7G 
Sugar-Beets and Beetroot Distillation. 
slices placed in vats and subjected to fermentation without 
undergoing any previous treatment. During the fermentation 
the sugar is converted into alcohol, which remains in the slices, 
and on completion of this transforming process the fermented 
slices are introduced into stills of a peculiar construction, and 
the alcohol drawn off by distillation. The residuary slices in 
the stills, having been subjected to the effects of boiling water, 
are too much saturated with water, and in too pulpy a condition 
to be carted away for cattle-food, with convenience or advantage, 
to a farm at some distance from the distillery ; hence the cooked 
slices in the stills, after the extraction of the alcohol, have to be 
consumed by fattening cattle in the immediate neighbourhood 
of the distillery. 
With regard to the comparative merits of the press-system 
and Chanponoi's plan or Leplay's system, it may be stated that 
the opinions of practical distillers in France and Germany are 
divided. Some advocate one system, others speak in favour of 
another. The advantages and defects of each of the three sys- 
tems have been freely discussed by writers on beetroot distilling 
without leading to a definite result showing, under all circum- 
stances, a decided superiority of any one plan. Arguments 
based on purely theoretical considerations may be advanced in 
favour of any of the three preceding systems, but it appears to 
me that local conveniences rather than practical arguments will 
decide which of the three plans is the most economical and 
desirable for adoption in a particular place. 
The spirit obtained by simple distillation from the fermented 
beetroot juice, or the fermented sliced beets, is not saleable, as 
it is neither sufficiently strong, nor pure enough, to be employed 
for the purposes for which alcohol is used. Besides water, the 
product of the first distillation of the fermented beets contains 
certain compounds, some of which are more volatile than alcohol, 
and others less so. All these by-products of the fermentation of 
the saccharine beetroot juice are more or less unpleasant to 
the smell and taste. Moreover, several of these impurities in 
crude spirit are poisonous, and hence great care has to be 
bestowed upon the separation of these impurities from the 
alcoholic liquid obtained by the first distillation. 
With a view of separating the alcohol from much of the water 
which is present in the dilute product of the first distillation, 
and of obtaining the alcohol in a pure condition, the impure 
spirit has to be redistilled in a rectifying still, that is, a dis- 
tilling apparatus of a peculiar construction. The special object 
of this rectification is to get rid of the compounds which im- 
part a most disagreeable smell, burning taste, and poisonous 
properties to impure grain or beetroot spirit. These impurities, 
