Manufacture of Sugar from Beet-Root, 



147 



two months in the ground, and that in ordinary seasons it gives 

 an increased return in the proportion of eight to five. 



In Belgium some of the farmers avail themselves of the same 

 practice, and manage to obtain a crop of beet after having har- 

 vested a rye or a flax crop. Either of these is ready early in 

 July — the stooks are shifted in the field to get out of the way of 

 the ploughs, which are sent in as soon as the crop is down — 

 the liquid manure carts, conveying the sewage of the house and 

 stables in which rape-cake is dissolved up, accompany the 

 planters, and give a certain portion of their contents to each plant 

 as it is dibbled into the field. All good farmers, whether abroad 

 or at home, agree upon the necessity of keeping their fallow crops 

 at any rate clean : this, carefully attended to, is all that is re- 

 quired between the time of transplanting and of harvest. 



The peculiar organization of the beet-root requires great care 

 to be exercised in harvesting the crop, as the slightest injury to it 

 is sure to be followed by a proportionate loss of sugar if intended 

 for the manufacturer, and by a tendency to decay if intended for 

 storing. To the farmer who uses the root for his cattle this is of 

 but small importance as compared with its effect on the manu- 

 facturer, as immediately fermentation is set up, the crystallizable 

 sugar is converted into a sweet mucilaginous compound (similar 

 to mannite, C.g H.^^ O.g), which will not crystallize, and is conse- 

 quently lost. Fine dry weather should be selected for the opera- 

 tion, and especial precautions should be taken to preserve the 

 roots, when stored, from wet and frost. It is alvrays desirable that 

 they should be exposed on the ground for three or four days before 

 they are stacked, in order that they may lose as much of their 

 moisture as possible. This is the more important if they are to 

 be used for sugar making. When stored on the farm the most 

 effectual plan is to select a dry and suitable locality, to pile the 

 roots between two rows of hurdles, set at about 6 to 8 feet apart^ 

 and then build them up from the top of the hurdles in a long 

 pyramidal form. A second row of hurdles should then be set all 

 round at a distance of about 9 inches from the others, and the 

 space between the two rows filled up with loose straw, well 

 pressed down : a good thatch should be laid over the centre, the 

 eaves coming well over the outer hurdles. By this method, w^hich 

 permits perfect ventilation while it protects the contents from the 

 severest frosts, the crop may be preserved quite fresh until the 

 end of the season. If the crop is sold from the field to the 

 manufacturer, he generally finds it more convenient to erect per- 

 manent storehouses for its reception, in which he can readily 

 secure it from frost and wet. 



Our information respecting the action of manures upon the 

 crop is far from satisfactorv. In this countrv, where it is only 



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