SUGAR, 



197 



facture of sugar, turned to farther advantage. It appears that 

 potash may be made from it, of a quality equal to foreign potash. 

 A Monsieur Dubranfaut has discovered a method of extracting 

 this substance from the residue of the molasses after distillation, 

 and which residue, having served for the production of alcohol, was 

 formerly thrown away. To give some idea of the importance of 

 the creation of this new source of national wealth (remarks the 

 Journal des Dehats), it will be sufficient to say that the quantity 

 of potash furnished by M. Dubranfaut' s process is equal to l-6th 

 of the quantity of sugar extracted from the beet. Thus, takiug 

 the amount of indigenous sugar manufactured each year at seventy 

 million kilogrammes (each kil. equal to 2 lbs. 2 oz. avoird.), there 

 may besides be extracted from this root, which has served for that ♦ 

 production, twelve million kilogrammes of saline matter, compara- 

 ble to the best potash of commerce ; and this, too, without the loss 

 of the alcohol and the other produce, the fabrication of which may 

 be continued simultaneously. According to the present prices, the 

 twelve millions of kilogrammes represent a value of from fourteen 

 to fifteen million francs. 



The States composing the German Union possessed towards the 

 close of 1838, 87 manufactories of beet-root sugar in full operation, 

 viz., Prussia, 63 ; Bavaria, 5 ; Wurtemburg, 3 ; Darmstadt, 1 ; other 

 states, 15 ; besides 66 which were then constructiug. 



The only returns given for Prussia and Central Grermany are 

 1836 to 1838, and the annual production of sugar was then esti- 

 mated at eleven million pounds. The quantity now made is, of 

 course, much greater. 



At the close of 1838, Austria produced nine million pounds ; she 

 now makes fifteen thousand tons. 



The growth of beet-root in Hungary, during the years 1837 and 

 1838, was extremely favorable^ and the manufacture of sugar from 

 it has become very extensive. It has been greatly encouraged by 

 the Austrian government. It was estimated that fifty millions of 

 pounds were manufactured in Prussia and Germany in 1839. In 

 Bohemia there were, in 1840, fifty-two factories of beet-root sugar, 

 and nine for the making of syrup out of potato meal. In 1838,- 

 the number was as high as eighty-seven. 



The Dutch papers state that in a single establishment in Voster 

 Vick, in Guilderland, about five million pounds' weight of the beet- 

 root are consumed in the manufacture of sugar. 



The following is a Comparative Statement of the number of 

 Sugar Manufactories, and the Quantity of Beet-root upon which 

 duty was paid for the Manufacture of Sugar in the ZoUverein 

 I during the years ending the 31st of August, 1846 and 1847 : — 



I 



i 



