74 
Beet-root Distillery. 
were made to prove or disprove that proposition. Before I enter 
more fully into the merits of the case, I will briefly describe 
the very simple process now used in France — a process known 
by the name of the inventor and patentee, M. Champonnois. 
The apparatus necessary for the distillery is neither expen- 
sive nor intricate. It simply consists of two or three tubs 
for soaking the slices, four tubs for fermenting, and an ordinary 
still. 
The roots are first cleaned and washed, then sliced in the 
usual way into longitudinal pieces. These are placed in the 
soaking-tubs with hot water, to macerate. The object of that pro- 
cess is to dissolve the saccharine matter, and separate it from 
the cellular tissue of the root. This operation lasts about an 
hour. The hot slices are then removed, and carted away as pulp 
for cattle. The pulp loses by maceration from 20 to 25 per 
cent, of its weight ; which represents the amount of saccharine 
juice obtained. This juice is run into the fermentation-tubs, 
v/here it remains 24 hours, and is then passed through the still 
in the usual manner. 
There are in the Champonnois process several points which 
greatly recommend its adoption, from their simplicity and 
economy. For instance, the hot water necessary to the mace- 
ration of the slices is supplied after the first day from the 
residue of the still, that is, the juice itself minus its alcohol. 
This juice when removed from the still has a sufficiently high 
temperature to macerate the roots, and thus effect a great 
economy of fuel. By this plan, whatever nutritive substance 
may remain suspended in the juice after the alcohol has been 
removed, is not wasted, but is again absorbed by the pulp ; so 
that in reality the root has lost nothing of its constituents except 
the alcohol producing sugar. 
Another important feature of this system is what is called the 
continuous fermentation. Formerly to produce the necessary 
fermentation in each tub it was necessary to add each time a 
certain quantity of beer-ferment or yeast. This not only occa- 
sioned a certain expenditure, but also great irregularity in 
the fermentation. The system of continuous fermentation con- 
sists in running, without any interruption, fresh juice from the 
macerating into the fermenting tubs, already filled with juice 
in a fermented state ; so that the decomposition of the saccharine 
matter and its consequent transformation into alcohol is con- 
tinuous, and by the time it reaches the fourth tub the fermen- 
tation is complete, and the juice is re<ady for the still. 
We have now to consider the following points: — 
1. Tlie yield of alcohol. 
2. The cost of the process. 
3. The nutritive value of the pulp. 
