Manufacture of Sugar from Beet-Root. 



151 



Without enumerating the several substances, some 25 to 30 in 

 number, found in the root, we may comprise them all in the fol- 

 lowing analysis, which will be sufficient for our present purpose, 

 merely referring to those more prominent ones which affect the 

 manufacturing processes. We will say then that the root consists 

 of (the average of several analyses) — 



Sugar 10 



Soluble salts, pectin, certain azotized compounds, &c. . 3 

 Water 83 



96 



Woody fibre, insoluble salts, albumen, and other azotized 

 compounds 4 



100 



These are mean quantities; in many samples a higher per 

 centage of sugar has been found. Peligot* and Pelouze have both 

 certified that the whole of the sugar is crystallizable : this has 

 been verified by other chemists, therefore it is quite possible to 

 increase the per centage at present obtained in the manufactories. 

 To the able researches of Peligot we are indebted for much 

 valuable information relative to the chemistry of the beet-root, not 

 the least important of which is that the root has the same com- 

 position at all periods of its growth, but that the relative propor- 

 tions of water and other compounds are determined principally 

 by the development and age of the plant, the increase in bulk 

 being due to the increased development of the parenchyma of the 

 cells, rather than to either the number or the size of the cells 

 themselves. Thus, although at one period the entire bulb might 

 be found to contain, say, 10 per cent, of sugar, and at another 

 only 8 per cent., still the actuaFquantity might be the same, the 

 difference in the per centage being due, not to a diminution in 

 the sugar, but to an increase in the other substances, Hermann 

 also found that the watery character of the bulb increased with 

 its development, which reduced the per centage, or apparent 

 quantity, of sugar. This may be seen in the following Table : — 



Percentage of Sugar . . 

 Relative weight of Roots . 



11-4: 



9-4 



8-5 



7-4 



6 



13 



23 



45 



This fact might be applied advantageously in the field, both 

 by affording to the grower an opportunity of harvesting his crop 

 at an earlier period, either to meet the other operations on his 

 farm or to secure fine weather, and also by enabling him to set 

 his plants closer together on the ground, and thus directly increase 

 his returns. Besides the sugar, the azotized compounds and the 



* Recherclies sur 1' analyse de la Betterave a Sucre. 



