84 
Sugar-Beets and Beetroot Distillation. 
but at the same time it has to be borne in mind that he has to 
deliver the beet at the factory free of cost. The cartage from the 
farm to the factory, on an average, cannot be less than 5s. per ton, 
leaving 15.?. per ton. Large as the profit appears to be when he 
can succeed in raising 18 or 20 tons of beet per acre, it may yet 
be questioned whether he turns his produce to the most profitable 
account if he sells it to the sugar-manufacturer and buys back 
from him the expressed pulp. If, like many a Continental beet- 
grower, the farmer has not sufficient capital or facilities to fatten 
beasts, or no good market to dispose profitably of his fat stock, it 
will no doubt answer his purpose very well to sell his beets at 
15s. per ton nett. But let us suppose that he finds it profitable to 
send to market annually a considerable number of fat animals, 
and further that he is obliged to buy oilcake, Indian corn, or 
similar food in addition to the roots, straw, and grass-crops he 
raises on the farm for home-consumption ; it then becomes a 
question whether he would not find it more profitable to give the 
root to his stock than to sell them to the sugar-manufacturer. 
Silesian sugar-beets of fair average quality, grown in England, 
on an average contain : — 
Water 84-5 
*Albuminous compounds 1'5 
Sugar 9'5 
Crude fibre 3'5 
Mineral matter (ash) 1-0 
100-0 
*Containing nitrogen •24 
Now, as 100 lbs. or tons of raw beets contain Ih^ lbs. or tons of 
the perfectly dry matter of which beet consists, it will take about 
6^ tons of raw beets to produce 1 ton of the perfectly dry sub- 
stance. This dry substance, according to the preceding average 
analysis, has the following composition : — 
100 parts contain : 
Sugar 61-29 
*Albnniinous compounds 9-68 
Crude fibre 22-58 
Mineral matter 6-45 
10000 
* Containing nitrogen r55 
It will be conceded by everyone who gives a moment's con- 
sideration to the subject, that this is a very fattening food. 
If a farmer sells 6J tons of raw beets, and obtains lbs. per ton, 
he obtains 4/. 17s. (if/, and disposes of 1 ton of perfectly dry 
feeding matter, containing, as the preceding analysis shows, as 
