Beet-root Distillery. 
91 
Mr. Hibberd states that, during the winter of 1857-8, he fed 29 
milch-cows on hay and pulp from the distillery, and that the whole 
did uncommonly well. On one or two occasions he ordered some 
of the cows to be fed on hay only, and they at once showed a 
considerable falling off from their ordinary yield of milk ; so 
much so that the cowmen, who were at first much prejudiced 
against the use of pulp, ultimately declared their preference of 
it to roots of any kind. The cows not only milked well, but 
kept their condition better than usual ; and the pulp was cheap at 
the 10^. per ton charged for it. 
It is the ordinary experience of cattle-feeders, and of Mr. 
Hibberd among others, that mangold-wurzels are unsuitable 
as food till late in winter, owing to the laxative effect which they 
produce upon animals fed on them early iin the season. This 
effect was not produced by the pulp remaining after distillation, 
at whatever season it was given ; the cows, while feeding on it, 
continuing all the time in excellent health. It would seem, 
therefore, that the root, in losing its sugar, had not lost its value 
as food for cattle. 
]\Ir. Hibberd's experience was derived from the distillation 
of large roots, the crops having exceeded 25 tons per acre ; so 
that, in fact, he does not estimate the cost of growing them at 
more than 7s. per ton. It is from these large roots that he 
declares his produce to have been 10 gallons of spirit and 
12 cwts. of food, of equal quality to the original root, per ton. 
His failure was due to the unsaleable quality of the spirit, not to 
any deficiency in quantity or strength. When, as he confidently 
anticipates, some method shall have been discovered of separating 
the mischievous essential oil, to which the inferior quality of 
the spirit is owing, there will be no hindrance, in his opinion, to 
the profitable prosecution of beet-root distillation in England. 
In order, however, to the success of any new enterprise of this 
kind, liberty of experiment at every step of the process must be 
allowed. At present the beet-root distiller is tied down by the 
Excise rules, which may be well adapted for distillation from 
malt, but which are not necessarily fit for so different a process 
as distillation from fermented beet-root pulp. 
It may be stated, as a reason for caution in this dnatter, that no 
instance is known in which this manufacture has proved profit- 
able in the long run on English ground ; but it may also be 
stated, as an encouragement to the further prosecution of the 
enterprise, that the reasons given by Mr. Hibberd for this failure 
seem quite sufficient to account for it, and yet are of such a 
nature as to hold out a strong probability of their removal. 
The yield of 10 gallons per ton of roots has been, in Mr. 
Hibberd's case, obtained over a sulficient quantity of the crop, 
and from a crop of a sufficiently-bulky character, to justify con- 
