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VOLUME VI, NO, 5 .} 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.-SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1855. 
{ WHOLE NO. 205. 
:;t[ !fofo-§0iier: 
A QUARTO WEEKLY 
AGRICULTURAL, LITERARY, S: FAMILY JOURNAL. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
•4SSOCMTB EDITORS : 
J. n. BIXBY, T. C. PETERS, EDWARD WEBSTER. 
Special Contributors : 
T. E. WsruoRE, H. C. Whits, H. T. Brooks, L. Wetherem.. 
Ladies’ Port-Folio by Azilk. 
Tub Rural New-Yorker is do ignod to bo unique and 
beautiful in appearance, and unsurpassed in Value, Purity 
and Variety of Contents. Its conductors earnestly labor 
to make it a Reliable Guide on the important Practical 
Subjects conuectod with the business of thoso whose 
interests it advocates. It embraces more Agricultural, 
Horticultural, Scientific, Mechanical, Literary and News 
Matter, Interspersed with many appropriate and beautiful 
Engravings, than any other paper published in this 
Country,—rendering it a complete Agricultural, Literary 
and Family Newspaper. 
For Terms, and other particulars, see last page. 
PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT. 
BEET BOOT SUGAR. 
The maple is disappearing in many sections 
of the country, and with it all chances of ob¬ 
taining the sugar usually supplied from that 
source. There are many farmers who can 
afford to make not only their own sugar, but 
a good supply for their neighbors, if they 
only knew how to do it, and where to find 
the material to make it from. 
The Sugar Beet is the thing that will meet 
the exigency. Its cultivation is easy, and the 
manufacture of sugar from its juice nearly as 
simple as from the sap of the maple. Indeed, 
we think it can be made much cheaper. One 
hundred pounds of beet root will yield about 
tweuty pounds of good syrup or molasses, or 
eight pounds of sugar, and from gin to eight 
pounds of syrup. Two bushels of beets, well 
washed, and clear of tops and roots, will weigh 
not far from one hundred pounds. A very 
small patch of ground, then, will supply the 
beet root to make all the sugar a family mav 
require. 
A Gcrmaitygcnlleman who had been largely 
engaged in the manufacture of beet root sugar 
in Belgium, at our request to write out a de¬ 
scription of the process which would be so 
plain that any intelligent farmer’s family could 
follow the directions, and make their own 
sugar, gave the following method. He says 
that except the raw material, the expense will 
amount to but a few shillings, and the process 
requires neither costly utensils or materials, 
nor a vast deal of chemical knowledge : 
UTENSILS AND IMPLEMENTS. 
1. A grater, for the purpose of mincing the 
roots. 
2. A small wooden screw press, or if that 
can not be had, two boards loaded with heavy 
stones. 
3. Two straining bags, one of cotton or 
linen, the other of flannel. 
4. A barrel, smaller or larger according to 
the quantity of sugar to be made. This bar¬ 
rel is to be perforated by holes three inches 
distant from each other, throughout its whole 
length, from the top down to about four inches 
from the bottoin. r These holes are filled by 
cork stoppers. A kettle—the flatter the latter 
is, the more appropriate will it be for the pur¬ 
poses of manufacturing sugar. 
PREPAHATORY LABORS. 
Preparation of the Lime Milk.—Take one 
pound ol white, well slacked lime; pour half 
a pound of lukewarm water upon it, and, after 
the lime has become pulverized, add nine quarts 
and a half of water, the whole lp.ass to be 
stirred up well during the application of the 
water. 
MANUFACTURE OF TIIE SYRUP OP. SUGAR. 
Early in November remove the beet roots 
from the ground, free them from the leaves and 
wash them clean. After they have dried up, 
grate them on a common grater, put the grated 
mass into the flannel straining bag, and press 
out the juice by means of a common wooden 
screw press, or by putting it between two well 
loaded boards. As soon as the proper quan¬ 
tity of juice has been pressed out, measure it 
into a kettle by the quart, and kindle a fire 
under the same. The juice, however, must not 
be allowed to boil at once, but kept in a very 
warm state, so that you may introduce your 
finger without feeling pain. Afterwards add 
to every thirty quarts of juice three quarts ot 
lime milk, mix it well together, and pour it 
into the barrel, well supplied with holes, so as 
to discharge the fluid when it becomes neces 
sary. Here the juice is to remain for three 
hours. One part of it will swim on the sur 
face, and is to be skimmed off; another will 
sink to the bottom. The clear matter is to be 
removed lrom the barrel in a careful manner, 
by means of the discharging holes, strained 
again through the well-washed strained flannel 
cloth, and poured into a clean kettle, after 
which it is boiled down by a brisk fire to one. 
third of its volume. To ascertain the third 
part, measure the third part of the juice into 
the kettle, make the latter stand straight, and 
fix a small stick in the centre of it. Sign the 
point of the stick up to which the liquid mat¬ 
ter reaches, by a mark, and the latter will give 
the test after farther boiling whether two- 
thirds have been evaporated. If’ you mean to 
have only syrup, boil the whole for two hours, 
add to thirty quarts of juice the white of six 
G SS 3 > cause it to boil up again, strain it 
through a cotton or linen cloth, and you will 
receive from thirty quarts of juice, ten to 
twelve pounds of the finest syrup. If it is 
your object to have sugar, boil the whole so 
long as to leave two quarts of liquid matter 
of thirty quarts of juice ; add then half a 
pound of fine sugar, clear the whole by the 
white of six eggs, strain it, and leave it till it 
becomes lukewarm; put it then into an en¬ 
larged earthen vessel, and the sugar will crys- 
talize within a few days. The syrup is poured 
out, the sugar dried in a warm place, and 
stored up for use. It is necessary to take 
great care of the fire at the last boiling, as too 
strong a fire will be apt to prevent the crystal- 
ization or consolidation of the sugar. 
1 he whole process is a very simple one; and 
as sugar is an important item in domestic 
use3, it is worth trying the experiment. We 
ought to mention, yet, that it is only the 
white Silesian sugar beets that cau be used for 
the production of sugar,—all the red or red¬ 
dish varieties are unfit for use. 
So much for the German. And it docs 
seem that there could be no trouble in follow¬ 
ing his directions. Any good cheese press 
would answer, and that can be found, or easily 
made, on any farm. 
But we find in the 13th volume of the New 
York State Agricultural Society’s Transac¬ 
tions, a very complete and elaborate article by 
Proi. John Wilson, of England, on this sub¬ 
ject. He says the manufacture of beet root 
sugar on the continent represents one of the 
most flourishing and most important of all the 
manufactures connected with agriculture. 
The consumption of beet root sugar in 1851, 
in the following countries, will give some idea 
of the immense capital invested in the growth 
of the root, and the manufacture of the sugar : 
Franco. <50,000 tons. 
i he Mango,d Wurzel is the var.ety nowgrown 
extensively in France and Germany for the 
purpose of sugar-making. It gives a heavier 
return per acre than the White, or Silesian 
licet; but the latter contains a higher per ceut- 
age of sugar, and a lower per centage o ! water 
and saline matters, and is undoubtedly (he 
kind for the farmer to grow who proposes to 
make his own sugar. 
Enormous quantities of the Mangold Wnrzel 
are grown in England. Authenticated reports 
a:e given of 38 tons 16 cwt. in one instance, 
and 39 tons 13 cwt. in another, per acre, and 
there is evidence of nearly or quite as large a 
yield in this country. On the Goulinent, how¬ 
ever, the average yield seems to be about 15 
tons per acre. 
A brief description of the beet root and its 
structure and composition, may not be out of 
p.ace here. II a root be cut down or across, 
as represented in the figure below, it will be 
seen that it is composed of concentric zones or 
layers, differing in color more or less, accord¬ 
ing to the variety. The skin contains the 
mineral and azotized matter, immediately bo- 
neath which lies the herbaceous tissue, contain¬ 
ing the coloring matter, an essential oil, and 
other peculiar organic components; to this 
succeeds the concentric zones of vascular and 
cellular tissue, containing the saccharine matter. 
both soluble and insoluble constituents, so as 
to separate them from the water, has not yet 
been obtained. 
To separate the solid matter various agents 
have been experimented with. The cheapest, 
and at the same time the moat efficient, is 
slaked lime,—which performs several duties— 
precipitating the suspended solid matter, deo¬ 
dorizing thig, and rendering inoffensive, at 
least to the sense of smell, the watery portions 
allowed to escape, the same flowing off clear 
and free of any odor. This is certainly one 
great step in advance, especially in a sanitary 
Total.138,000 
Russia. 36.000 tons. 
Germ’y,(Zoiv) 26,000 “ 
Austria. 7,000 “ 
Belgium . 10,000 “ 
Experience has shown that in cultivation it 
is injurious to the crop to apply manure the 
season it is sown. The manure should be ap¬ 
plied to the preceding crop, and the ground 
tnoroughly tilled. It is recommended to steep 
the seed before sowing, from twelve to twenty- 
four ^ hours. Transplanting is recommended, 
but in our climate it would not be advisable. 
The seed should be sown as early in the spring 
as it can be, and have the plant escape the 
early frosts. The after success depends upon 
judicious thinning, and careful culture. 
The peculiar organization of the beet root 
requires great care to be exercised in harvest¬ 
ing the crop, as the slightest injury to it is 
sure to be followed by a proportionate loss of 
sugar. To the farmer who makes for his own 
use, there js no trouble, as he can harvest daily 
the quantity required. It is important, how- 
o\er, to begin the manufacture early enough to 
save them from any severe frost, as a slight 
freezing proves to be detrimental to the sugar 
yield, though not so much so to the yield of 
syrup or molasses. It is a good plan to leave 
them on the ground, after pulling, for three or 
four days, in order that they may loce as 
much moisture as possible. 
point of view and it is to be hoped, will lead 
to the discovery of some means of retaining the 
soluble manurial elements. Gould the soluble 
constituents—saline and organic—but be re¬ 
tained along with the soluble portions, a fer¬ 
tilizer of incalculable value would be secured. 
The insoluble portions in sewerage wafer, 
wheu precipitated remain at the bottom, form¬ 
ing a muddy compound, usually con a' - 
ing from three to four hundred per cent, o 
water. Two methods have been tried for free¬ 
ing it from this, one by heat, the other by air. 
The latter is a suggestion of Mr. Wickst i::>. 
of Edinburgh. Ilia method is to precipita'e 
the insoluble portions by slaked lime, the mass 
then to be elevated by machinery, using a 
drying machine on the centrifugal principle 
to drive off the principal part of the water, at d 
thus reduce the bulk. This dried matter may 
then be formed into bricks and be subjected to 
further drying, or packed into casks for ic 
raoval into the agricultural districts. Steam 
must of course be employed as a motive j low¬ 
er, and the spare heat could easily be n ado 
useful hero. It is in the mechanical and labor- 
requiring part of the process, doubtless, that 
one of the chief difficulties rest—such as in the 
elevation of the water, the forming of tanks 
for precipitating the manure—the cost ol ma¬ 
chinery for drying, &c., &c., and the huge 
amount of labor required to furnish in a port¬ 
able form the sewerage manure. Here is a 
chance for enterprise and intelligence to engage 
in the solution of a problem of great impor¬ 
tance to the world. 
The great want however, we repeat ag in, is 
a cheap and efficient chemical agent, h; v i <>• 
the power to abstract the soluble as well as 
the insoluble manurial substances. 8 a < d 
__ will not effect this, and of all the process- 
The average of _ a»a>„ shows R | a. qmrt er of a„ acre, and the stated * 1 1 
^OUjrjr^r, r* 
PERPENDICULAR AND CROSS SECTIONS OF THE SUGAR BEET. 
sumu-^rSmtlin r e<i aye i>’ ° f vascal ™ and cc lular tissue, wherein the crystals of 
roots, containing a large With the ^ and eide 
*nd^ q ^ and 
marks, may be seen • 'the ceVradther side Z ° ncS ° r la ? er8> shown dark colored 
the latest amount o’f crysta s. * ° f 4h ** appear under thc microscope to contain 
to consist oi— 
Sugar . 
Soluble salts, &c_ 
Water. 
Woody fibre, ire. 
In Ihe later and most improved process of 
manufacture, there is but little difference from 
the German method. The roots must be 
washed entirely clean, and rasping is recom¬ 
mended as the only way to reduce the root to 
a pulp, for the reason that the small cells 
which (as it has been shown) hold the sugar, 
ate better broken up by that than any other j 
process, and the finer it is done the better. A 
small jet ol water is allowed to trickle upon 
the rasp while in motion, to prevent its becom¬ 
ing clogged. 
The juice should be pressed out of the pulp 
as soon as possible after it is ground. That 
process has already been alluded to, and does 
not differ from the general mode. The bugs 
should be cleaned alter using, and well dried-. 
It is also important that the juice should not 
stand any leugth of time after it is pressed out. 
Ihe process ot clarifying is the same sub¬ 
stantially as the one already described. Thc 
use of animal charcoal is unnecessary, unless 
to get rid of the color. When it is an object 
to make a very nice white article, it will be 
necessary to pass the syrup, before it gets too 
thick, through that substance. We appre¬ 
hend, however, that any person who knows 
how to make good maple sugar can make as 
good beet root sugar. 
To those who wish to become familiar with 
the manufacturing of sugar from beet root on 
a large scale, we would recommend the perusal 
of the article re erred to. Of the profit of 
■making his own sugar, we think the farmer at 
the North can have no doubt. Allowing 
fifteen tons of roots as the average product per 
acre, oi" that four tons could be grown upon 
the account would be about as follows : 
Expense of tifage. 5 4 O0 
Uo manufacture. 10 00 
S14 UO 
Allowing but 7 per cent, of sugar and 3 per 
cent, of molasses, this would give 280 lbs. of 
choice sugar, and about 12 gallons of superior 
syrup. 
£80 lbs. sugar at 8 cents. $22 40 
12 gallons syrup, 75 cents. “9 00 
$31 40 
Showing a profit of nearly $17,00. But after 
ail, this dees not convey a true idea of the 
profit or saving. For, in point of fact, it is 
so much money saved as the sugar would cost 
which is consumed by the family. It is simply 
a question whether the farmer can make his 
sugar cheaper than he can raise the wheat or j progressing agriculture, will daily direct m 0 < 
corn, or make the butter or cheese to exchange ” " 
fertilizer possessing all the manurial eleu ■ n 
which that water contains. If these could I; 
economically abstracted, it would benefit, bulb 
the agricultural world and the inhabitants < 1 
populous places. To the latter, the quest inn 
is of an importance which cannot leave it 1 . m l 
longer disregarded. With a more gene: a y 
diffused knowledge, of the laws which gi.vi.vii 
health, and which directly and indirectly iui.u 
ence the social and moral advancement of 1 . e 
people, the question of purifying thc seweiape 
water of towns of all that is offensive, win l'u 
practically dealt with. Such consideration : 
should weigh with all who take up the . na¬ 
tion. That success is not far distant, may Un¬ 
safely supposed. The advancing value 1 . 
pcrtable manures and the increasing wants <1 
for it We say, without any hesitation, that 
it is by far the cheapest to make the sugar. 
AA r e hope the State Agricultural Society, 
and the various County Societies, will take 
the subject in hand, and offer liberal premiums 
for the beet samples of beet root sugar ; and 
we hope, belore another winter comes, to see 
samples made by those who hava reed this 
article in the Rural. 
SEWERAGE MANURE.—CONDENSATION- 
attention to the continuous stream of feni.i- 
zing agents, which are conveyed to sea in ike 
sewerage water of towns. 
[Concluded from page 30 .] 
Some practicab.o scheme for extracting by 
chemical agents, the manurial elements of sew¬ 
erage water, is the great desideratum of mod¬ 
ern agricultural science. These elements cor¬ 
respond very nearly to a mixt ure of guano and 
dissolved bone3 — manures for which more 
money is paid than for all others of a market¬ 
able character. The proportion of water 
which passes through the sewers is so largo 
that it carries away with it everything soluble, 
and an agent which shall precipitate or extract 
A Good Corn Crop.— Messrs. S. & J. IT. 
Gillett raised 1,900 bushels of yellow corn in 
the ear, the past year, on 12J£ acres of gn ui <1 
on their farm of river flats below Cornii g.— 
| The ground was a piece of meadow land, 1 w- 
j ed U P ^te in the fall previous, harrowed twice 
over in the spring following. Furrowed I ’> b 
ways with the corn plow, not over three i e 
apart, and planted. When the corn wa- up 
sufficient to see it ten rods, they went twice ic 
each row both ways with the*cultivator. ’I e. 
went through with the corn plow twice i: a 
row one way, followed by hceing. The see. t d 
time of hoeing commenced after going thr. 
twice in a row both ways, turning the dir 1 
wards the corn. Cutting np and husk i 
done in good farming style. A large puniei . 
grew in said tie'd weighing forty-seven p< u <■ 
and twelve ounces. It may be well to a e 
that the above crop was from the natura' cull 
as no fertilizing substance Vas applied. 
