204 



The i3oiiits -which appeared to me worthy of remark in visiting the beet-root 

 sugar works are, the extreme care that nothing shall be lost — the great attention 

 paid to cleanliness in every part of the process, besides the particular care given 

 to defecation. No vessel is ever used twice without being thoroughly washed. 

 Such a thing as the employment of an open fire in any part of the manufacture 

 is quite unknown. Everything is done by steam, of a pressure of fi-om 4 to 5 

 atmospheres. In the more recently started works, the evaporation is entirely 

 carried on in vacuum. In some of the older works copper evaporators, heated 

 by coils of steam piping, and having covers, with chimneys to carry off the 

 vapor, are still used ; but of the eight works I visited I only saw them in use 

 in one of them, and they are nowhere used excepting to evaporate to the point 

 when the second filtration takes place. 



The coolers I saw were invariably made of iron, and varied in depth from 

 2 to over 6 feet. These very deep vessels are used for the crystallization of 

 sugar, made of the fourth, fifth and sixth re-boilings of molasses, which requires 

 from three to six months. 



One thing struck me forcibly in going over the French and Belgian works ; 

 it was the extreme liberality with which I was allowed to go over every part of 

 them ; to remain in them as long as I pleased ; had all my inquiiies answered, 

 and every explanation given ; in most striking contrast to the grudging manner 

 in which I have been trotted over some of the refineries in England, as if those 

 who showed them were afraid I should gain any information on the subject of 

 their trade. 



Mr. H. Colman, speaking of the agriculture of the Continent, 

 gives some information lie obtained on the comparative cost of 

 producing beet and cane sngar.. , A hectare (two and a half acres) 

 produces, in the Isle of Bourbon, about 76,000 kilogrammes (a 

 kilogramme is nearly two and one-fifth pounds) of cane, which will 

 give 2,200 kilogrammes of sugar, and the cost for labor is 2,500 

 francs. A hectare of beet root produces 40,000 kilogrammes of 

 roots, wdiich yield 2,400 kilogrammes of sugar, and the expense of 

 the culture is 354 fraucs. The cost of the cane sugar in this case 

 is 27 centimes, and of the beet sugar 14 centimes only, per kilo- 

 gramme. 



These are extraordinary statements, and will be looked at by the 

 political economist and the philanthropist with great interest. 

 There are few of the northern states of Em'ope, or of the United 

 States, which might not produce their own sugar ; and when we 

 take into account the value of this product, even in its remains 

 after the sugar is extracted, for the fattening of cattle and sheep, 

 and of course for the enrichment of the land for the succeeding 

 crops, its important bearing upon agricultural improvement can- 

 not be exaggerated. 



According to M. Peligot, the average amount of sugar in beets 

 is 12 per cent. ; but, by extraction, they obtain only 6 per cent. 

 The cane contains about 18 per cent, of saccharine matter, but 

 they get only about 7^. The expense of cultivating a hectare of 

 beets, according to Dombasle, is 354 francs. An hectare of cane, 

 which produces 2,200 kilogrammes of sugar, in the Island of 

 Bourbon, and only 2,000 in French Gruiana, demands the labor 

 of twelve negroes, the annual expense of each of whom is 250 

 , francs, according to M. Labrau. — (Commission of Inquiry in 1840.) 



Sugar has become not only an article of luxury, but of utility, to 

 such a degree, that a supply of it constitutes an important article 



