Sugar-Beets and Beetroot Distillation. ' 83 
£ 
2 Steam generators of 90-horse power 880 
1 Steam engine of 20-horse power 300 
1 Steam engine of 8-liorse power 104 
1 Steam engine of 1 -horse power 72 
1 Washing machine 48 
2 Rasping machines 164 
G Presses 960 
5 Pumps 280 
2 Strainers 24 
1 Mixer 28 
C Fermenting vats 143 
1 Reservoir 170 
Savalle's stills (in iron and copper) 3350 
Pipes and cocks 512 
7,035 
Building, cai'riage, erection of machinery, &c. ,, 2,965 
£10,000 
The actual success and rapid development of beetroot industry 
on the Continent, and the satisfactory experiments on the growth 
of sugar-beets which have been made in England during the last 
three years, in all probability will lead to a considerable breadth 
of land being applied to the production of sugar-beets. Sugar 
factories and beetroot distilleries, in addition to the two establish- 
ments already in existence, are likely to spring up in localities 
favourable to the growth of sugar-beet. 
The question may be asked, is it more profitable to manufacture 
sugar or to distil spirit from beet-roots ? It is said that the dis- 
tillation of spirit has been found the more profitable operation of 
the two ; and probably this is the case when the market price of 
spirit is high and that of sugar low, or as long as the distillation 
of beetroot spirit, in comparison with the manufacture of sugar, 
is carried on on a limited scale. But should the cultivation of 
sugar-beets in this country increase at a similar rate to what 
it has on the Continent, the probability is that both branches 
of beetroot industry will grow together. 
In many Continental beetroot-sugar factories, arrangements 
exist for converting the molasses resulting from refining crude 
sugar into spirit, and, if desirable, the bulk of the beet-crop can 
be used in the same establishment either for the manufacture 
of sugar or for the distillation of spirit. The manufacture of 
sugar or of spirit, in favourable seasons, yields a very good 
return for the capital employed in either industry ; and there can 
be little doubt that it will pay a farmer very well to sell his 
beets, if he can grow something like 18 tons per acre, and get for 
them at the works IZ. a ton. The profit to the farmer appears 
great, if he can dispose of a crop of IS tons of roots at that rate ; 
G 2 
