The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom

Chapter XX: Section I (12)

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The Otaheitan, or the Bourbon cane, has been brought from Cayenne to Pernambuco since the Portuguese obtained possession of that settlement. I believe the two species of cane are much alike, and I have not been able to discover which of them it is. Its advantages are so apparent, that after one trial on each estate, it has superseded the small cane which was in general use. The Cayenne cane, as it is called in Pernambuco, is of a much larger size than the common cane; it branches so very greatly, that the labor in planting a piece of cane is much decreased, and the returns from it are at the same time much more considerable. It is not planted in trenches, but holes are dug at equal distances from each other, in which these cuttings are laid. This cane bears the dry weather better than the small cane; and when the leaves of the latter begin to turn brown, those of the former still preserve their natural color. A planter in the _Varzea_ told me that he had obtained four crops from one piece of land in three years, and that the soil in question had been considered by him as nearly worn out, before he planted the Cayenne cane upon it.--("Koster's Travels in Brazil," vol. 2.)

Mr. E. Morewood, of Compensation, Natal, who has paid much attention to sugar culture in that colony, has favored me with the following details, which will be useful for the guidance of others, as being the results of his own experience:--

lbs.
Produce of one acre of sugar cane 72,240
Juice expressed, (or 64 per cent.) 46,308
Dry sugar 7,356
Green syrup or molasses 2,829
This syrup carrying with it a good deal of sugar out of the
coolers, contains fully 75 per cent. of crystalizable sugar, or 2,121
Thus the total amount of sugar per acre is 9,477

The average density of the cane juice was 12 degrees Beaume, or 21
per cent. All the improved cane mills are now constructed to give at
least 75 per cent. of juice. With such a mill, an acre would yield
11,075 lbs. of sugar. With proper cultivation I have no doubt the
produce could be largely increased; for, as the numerous visitors
who have seen this place can testify, my cane fields were not
attended to.

To enable me to show the cost of producing a crop of canes, you must
allow me to go into the expense of cultivating the land first.

To keep one ploughman going, a person requires--

20 Oxen at £3 £60 0 0
1 Plough 7 10 0
1 set Harrows 7 10 0
Yokes, Trektows, Reins, &c. 5 0 0
----------
£80 0 0

Then the expenses per month will be:--

Ploughman's wages £2 10 0
Board 1 10 0
1 Driver, 10s., Leaders, 5s. 0 15 0
Food for two natives 0 10 0
Wear and tear of oxen and gear,
at 25 per cent. per annum 1 10 4
---------
£6 18 4

These two spans of oxen will comfortably plough and harrow twenty
acres per month, and the cost will thus be about 7s. per acre.

Now, let us suppose that a person wishes to put in twenty acres of
canes, the expense would be about as follows:--

4 Ploughings and harrowings, 80 acres at 7s. £28 0 0
Drawing canefurrows, 4 acres per day, 5 days at 6s. 1 10 0
2,000 Cane tops per acre, at 50s. 100 0 0
4 Horsehoeings, at 2s. 6d. 10 0 0
4 Handweedings in the rows, at 2s. 6d. 10 0 0
Cutting and carrying out canes, at 30s. 30 0 0
Carriage to Mill, thirty tons per acre, at 2s. 60 0 0
----------
£239 10 0

or £12 per acre. To this must be added the rent of land, say 10s.
per acre, with right of grazing cattle, for two years, when the
first crop will come in, would bring the expense to £13 per acre.
The cane yielding say only three tons of sugar per acre, of which
the planter would, most likely, have to give the manufacturer
one-third, he will receive forty tons of sugar, costing him £6 10s.
per ton, and worth on the spot, according to advices received from
England and the Cape, £15 per ton, at the lowest estimate, or £600.

The greatest expense, you will perceive, is the article of tops for
planting; but this ought not to discourage persons. The plants which
I imported from the Mauritius some years ago, cost me, on account of
many of them not vegetating, at the rate of £30 per acre. Parties
who begin planting now have the great advantage that they can get
plants, every one of which, if properly treated, will grow, at
one-sixth of that price.

How many crops cane will give on good soil in Natal, I am of course
unable to state, as the oldest cane I have got has been cut only
three times--the last yield (second ratoons) was much finer than the
preceding ones, and by adopting the improved manner of cane
cultivation, viz., returning all but the cane juice to the soil, I
am confident that replanting will be found quite unnecessary; the
expenses for the second and following years will therefore be very
trifling.

Comparative Statement of the ruling Prices at Natal and the Mauritius of Land, Live Stock, Implements, Labor, and other requirements connected with the cultivation of the Sugar Cane.

Analysis of the foregoing Statement, showing the total comparative outlay for sundries connected with the cultivation of Sugar at Natal and Mauritius, computed at the lowest ruling prices.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
| MAURITIUS | NATAL | Difference
| | | in
| | |favor of Natal
----------------------------------------------------------------------
| | |
Land, 100 acres |70s. 350 0 0 |10s. 50 0 0 | 300 0 0
Manure, Guano 10 loads |£6 60 0 0 | |
Cattle Manure, 10 loads| | 1s. 0 10 0 |
Live Stock, 10 mules. |£30 300 0 0 |£15. 150 0 0 | 150 0 0
---- 10 oxen |£12 120 0 0 | £3. 30 0 0 | 90 0 0
Two drivers per mouth | £1 2 0 0 | 1 5 0 | 0 15 0
Coolies, 10 with keep | 10 0 0 | } | 2 10 0
Kafirs, 10 ditto | |15s. 7 10 0} |
White men, 10 | £4 40 0 0 |£4. 40 0 0 |
Beef, 100 lbs. |at 6d. 2 10 0 |1½d. 0 12 6 | 1 17 6
Bread, 100 loaves | 6d. 2 10 0 |6d. 2 10 0 |
Butter,100 lbs. |1s.3d. 6 5 0 |6d. 2 10 0 | 3 15 0
Rice, 100 lbs., food | 0 8 4 | } |
for Coolies, Indian | | } | 0 5 7
Corn, 100 lbs., food | | 0 2 9} |
for Kafirs | | } |
Oats | 0 12 6 | 0 10 0 | 0 2 6
Beans, 100 lbs. | 1 2 6 | 0 10 0 | 0 12 6
Coals | 2 0 0 | 2 0 0 |
| | |
---------------------------------------------------------------------
| £897 8 4 | £288 0 3 | £554 18 1
---------------------------------------------------------------------

The immense saving obtained by ploughing, &c., over the Mauritius hand labor with the hoe, is not shown in the above figures.

Table showing the cost of producing Muscovado sugar, and the quantity produced or available in the several countries mentioned, as made up from the evidence given before the Committee on Sugar and Coffee Plantations; by T. Wilson.

-----------------+-------+---------+---------+-------+-------+-------+------
| | | | | |Excess |
| | | | | |of cost|
| | | | |Excess |of free|
| | | | |of cost| over |
| | | | Cost |of free| SLAVE |
| | Average | Average |of pro-|labour | TRADE |
| |available|available|ducing | over | labor,|
| | produce | produce | one | slave |taking |In-
|Average| under | during |cwt. of|or com-| the |crease
|cost of| slavery |the last | sugar |pulsory|cost in|of cost
|produc-| or com- | three | at | labor,|Brazil |in the
| tion | pulsory |years of |present| per | at |British
COUNTRY. | under | labor, | freedom,| date, | cwt., |7s. 6d.|planta-
|slavery| for the | for the |exclu- |taking | per |tions
|or com-|supply of|supply of|sive of| the | cwt. | since
|pulsory| Europe | Europe |inter- |average|making |emanci-
| labor.| and the | and the |est on |cost of| the |pation.
| | United | United | capi- | the |average|
| | States,| States.| tal, |latter | of |
| | | | etc. |at 11s.| slave |
| | | | | per | trade |
| | | | | cwt. | labor |
| | | | | |8s. per|
| | | | | | cwt. |
-----------------+-------+---------+---------+-------+-------+-------+------
_British | s. d.| Tons. | Tons. | s d. | s. d. | s. d.| s. d.
Plantations_. | | | | | | |
Antigua | 7 6 | 7,767 | 8,963 | 16 6 | 5 6 | 8 6 | 9 0
Barbados | 6 0 | 17,174 | 16,378 | 15 6 | 4 6 | 7 6 | 9 6
Grenada | 11 0 | 9,634 | 3,779 | 17 6 | 6 6 | 9 6 | 6 6
St. Kitts | 5 0 | 4,382 | 5,558 | 19 0 | 8 0 | 11 0 | 14 0
St. Vincent | 5 6 | 10,056 | 6,636 | 19 6 | 8 6 | 11 6 | 14 0
Tobago | 5 6 | 5,321 | 2,514 | 19 6 | 8 6 | 11 6 | 14 0
St. Lucia, etc. | 5 6 | 9,600 | 8,650 | 19 6 | 8 6 | 11 6 | 14 0
Jamaica | 10 0 | 68,626 | 30,807 | 22 6 | 11 6 | 14 6 | 12 6
Guiana | 6 8 | 44,178 | 24,817 | 25 10 | 14 10 | 17 10 | 19 2
Trinidad A* | 3 0 | 15,428 | 16,539 | 20 10 | 9 10 | 12 10 | 17 10
Mauritius | | 35,000 | 50,000 | 20 0 | 9 0 | 12 0 |
Bengal | | | 62,000 | 23 0 | 12 0 | 15 0 |
Madras | | | 7,000 | 20 0 | 9 0 | 12 0 |
_Foreign | | | | | | |
Free Labor | | | | | | |
Country_. | | | | | | |
Europe | | | | | | |
(Beet-root) B* | | | 100,000 | 24 4 | 13 4 | 16 4 |
_Foreign Slave, | | | | | | |
or Compulsory | | | | | | |
Labor | | | | | | |
Countries_. | | | | | | |
Java C* | 15 0 | 88,000 | | 15 0 | | |
French Colonies | 15 0 | 90,000 | | 15 0 | Slave | |
Cuba (Muscovado)| 8 0 | 220,000 | | 8 0 |or com-| |
Porto Rico | 8 6 | 40,000 | | 8 6 |pulsory| |
Louisiana | 12 6 | 100,000 | | 12 6 | labor | |
Brazils D* | 11 11 | 90,000 | | 11 11 | | |
-----------------+-------+---------+---------+-------+-------+-------+------

[A* This cost, as taken from the averages given in Lord Harris's despatches, is lower than the averages given by the witnesses before the Committee.]

[B* This beet-root sugar sells, in the continental markets, on account of its inferior quality, at about 4s. to 6s. per cwt. below Colonial Muscovado, so that Colonial Muscovado must be about 33s. per cwt. to enable beet sugar to sell in this market for cost and charges, and allowing no profit to the beet sugar maker.]

[C* The cost of producing sugar in Java is taken at the average between the Government contract sugar, and the free sugar, as given by Mr. San Martin.]

[D* The cost of producing sugar in Brazil is taken from the Consular return: this return has given no credit for rum or molasses, and has charged 6s. 5d. for manufacturing, fully 3s. 5d. more than the cost in Cuba,--allowance for these two items would give 7s. 6d. as the nett cost per cwt.]

BEET ROOT SUGAR.

The rapid progress of the production of beet root sugar on the continent, especially in France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, and Russia, and its recent introduction and cultivation as an article of commerce in Ireland, renders the detail of its culture and manufacture on the continent interesting. I have, therefore, been induced to bestow some pains on an investigation of the rise and progress of its production and consumption in those countries.

During the past three years, the smallest estimate which can be formed of the quantity of cane sugar that has been replaced by beet root sugar in the chief European countries, is about 80,000 tons annually, with the certainty that, year after year, the consumption will become exclusively confined to the former, to the greater exclusion of the latter; unless some great change shall take place in the relative perfection and manufacture of the two different descriptions of produce.

Although, observes the _Economist_, the beet root sugar produced in France, Belgium, Germany, and other parts of the continent is not brought into competition in our own markets with the produce of the British colonies, yet it must be plain that the exclusion of so much foreign cane sugar from the continent, which was formerly consumed there, must throw a much larger quantity of Cuba and Brazilian sugar upon this market; and by this means the increased production of beet root sugar, even in those countries where it is highly protected, does indirectly increase the competition among the producers of cane sugar in our market.

So early as 1747, a chemist of Berlin, named Margraf, discovered that beet root contained a certain quantity of sugar, but it was not until 1796 that the discovery was properly brought under the attention of the scientific in Europe by Achard, who was also a chemist and resident of Berlin, and who published a circumstantial account of the progress by which he extracted from 3 to 4 per cent. of sugar from beet root.

Several attempts have been made, from time to time, to manufacture beet root sugar in England, but never, hitherto, on a large and systematic scale. Some years ago a company was established for the purpose, but they did not proceed in their operations.

A refinery of sugar from the beet root was erected at Thames Bank, Chelsea, in the early part of 1837. During the summer of 1839 a great many acres of land were put into cultivation with the root, at Wandsworth and other places in the vicinity of the metropolis. The machinery used in the manufacture was principally on the plan of the vacuum pans, and a fine refined sugar was produced from the juice by the first process of evaporation, after it had undergone discolorization. Another part of the premises was appropriated to the manufacture of coarse brown paper from the refuse, for which it is extensively used in France.

A refinery was also established about this period at Belfast, in the vicinity of which town upwards of 200 acres of land were put into cultivation with beet root for the manufacture of sugar.

The experience of France ought to be a sufficient guarantee that the manufacture of beet root sugar is not a speculative but a great staple trade, in which the supply can be regulated by the demand, with a precision scarcely attainable in any other ease, and when, in addition, this demand tends rather to increase than to diminish. That the trade is profitable there can also be no doubt from the large capital embarked in it on the Continent--a capital which is steadily increasing even in France, where protection has been gradually withdrawn, and where, since 1848, it has competed upon equal terms with colonial sugars.

The produce of France in 1851 was nearly 60,000 tons. The beet root sugar made in the Zollverein in 1851 was about 45,000 tons. Probably half as much more as is made in France and the Zollverein, is made in all the other parts of the Continent. In Belgium, the quantity made is said to be 7,000 tons; in Russia, 35,000; making a total of beet root sugar now manufactured in Europe of at least 150,000 and probably more, or nearly one-sixth part of the present consumption of Europe, America, and our various colonies. In 1847 this was estimated at upwards of 1,000,000 tons; and, as the production has increased considerably since that period, it is now not less than 1,100,000 tons. The soil of the Continent, it is said, will give 16 tons to the acre, and that of Ireland, 26 tons to the acre. The former yields from 6 to 7 per cent.--the latter from 7 to 8 per cent. as the extreme maximum strength of saccharine matter. The cost of the root in Ireland--for it is with that, and not with the cost of the Continental root, with which the West Indies will have to contend--is said to be at the rate of 16s. per ton this; but will probably be 13s. next season. The cost of manufacture is set down at £7 5s. per ton. Calculating the yield of the root to be 7½ lbs. to every 100 lbs., for 26 tons the yield would be nearly 2 tons of sugar, which would give about £9 10s. per ton, putting down the raw material to cost 14s, 6d. per ton, the medium between 16s. and 13s. Thus a ton of Irish-grown and manufactured beet root sugar, would cost £16 15s. per ton. Mr. Sullivan, the scientific guide to those who are undertaking to make beet root sugar at Mountmellick, Queen's County, Ireland, estimates the cost of obtaining pure sugar at from £16 17s. to £19 18s. per ton, according to the quantity of sugar in the root.

Beet root is a vegetable of large circumference, at the upper end nine to eleven inches in diameter. There are several kinds. That which is considered to yield the most sugar is the white or Silesian beet (_Beta alba_). It is smaller than the mangel wurzel, and more compact, and appears in its texture to be more like the Swedish turnip. For the manufacture of sugar, the smaller beets, of which the roots weigh only one or two pounds, were preferred by Chaptal, who, besides being a celebrated chemist, was also a practical agriculturist and a manufacturer of sugar from beet root. After the white beet follows the yellow (_beta major_), then the red (_beta romana_), and lastly the common or field beet root (_Beta sylvestris_). Margraf, as we have seen, was the first chemist who discovered the saccharine principle in beet root; and Achard, the first manufacturer who fitted up an establishment (in Silesia) for the extraction of sugar from the root. It was not before 1809 that this manufacture was introduced into France.

The manufacture sprung up there in consequence of Bonaparte's scheme for destroying the colonial prosperity of Great Britain by excluding British colonial produce. It having been found that from the juice of the beet root a crystallizable sugar could be obtained, he encouraged the establishment of the manufacture by every advantage which monopoly and premiums could give it. Colonial sugar was at the enormous price of four and five francs a pound, and the use of it was become so habitual, that no Frenchman could do without it. Several large manufactories of beet root were established, some of which only served as pretexts for selling smuggled colonial sugar as the produce of their own works. Count Chaptal, however, established one on his own farm, raising the beet root, as well as extracting the sugar. The roots are first cleaned by washing or scraping, and then placed in a machine to be rasped and reduced to a pulp. This pulp is put into a strong canvas bag and placed under a powerful press to squeeze out the juice. It is then put into coppers and boiled, undergoing certain other processes. Most of the operations are nearly the same as those by which the juice of the sugar cane is prepared for use; but much greater skill and nicety are required in rendering the juice of the beet root crystallizable, on account of its greater rawness and the smaller quantity of sugar it contains. But when this sugar is refined, it is impossible for the most experienced judge to distinguish it from the other, either by the taste or appearance; and from this arose the facility with which smuggled colonial sugar was sold in France, under the name of sugar from beet root. Five tons of clean roots produce about 4½ cwt. of coarse sugar, which give about 160 lbs. of double refined sugar, and 60 lbs. of inferior lump sugar. The rest is molasses, from which a good spirit is distilled. The dry residue of the roots, after expressing the juice, consists chiefly of fibre and mucilage, and amounts to about one-fourth of the weight of the clean roots used. It contains all the nutritive part of the root, with the exception of 4½ per cent. of sugar, which has been extracted from the juice, the rest being water.

As the expense of this manufacture greatly exceeded the value of the sugar produced, according to the price of colonial sugar, it was only by the artificial encouragement of a monopoly and premiums that it could be carried on to advantage. The process is one of mere curiosity as long as sugar from the sugar cane can be obtained cheaper, and the import duties laid upon it are not so excessive as to amount to a prohibition; and in this case it is almost impossible to prevent its clandestine introduction.

Another mode of making sugar from beet root, practised in some parts of Germany, is as follows, and is said to make better sugar than the other process:--The roots having been washed, are sliced lengthways, strung on packthread, and hung up to dry. The object of this is to let the watery juice evaporate, and the sweet juice, being concentrated, is taken up by macerating the dry slices in water. It is managed so that all the juice shall be extracted by a very small quantity of water, which saves much of the trouble of evaporation. Professor Lampadius obtained from 110 lbs. of roots 4 lbs. of well-grained white powder-sugar, and the residuum afforded 7 pints of spirit. Achard says that about a ton of roots produced 100 lbs. of raw sugar, which gave 55 lbs. of refined sugar, and 15 lbs. of treacle. This result is not very different from that of Chaptal. 6,000 tons of beet root it is said will produce 400 tons of sugar and 100 tons of molasses.

Beet root sugar in the raw state contains an essential oil, the taste and smell of which are disagreeable. Thus the treacle of beet root cannot be used in a direct way, whereas the treacle of cane sugar is of an agreeable flavor, for the essential oil which it contains is aromatic, and has some resemblance in taste to vanilla. But beet root sugar, when it is completely refined, differs in no sensible degree from refined cane sugar. In appearance it is quite equal to cane sugar, and the process of refining it is more easy than for the latter. Samples made in Belgium were exhibited at a late meeting of the Dublin Society. It was of the finest appearance, of strong sweetening quality, and in color resembling the species of sugar known as crushed lump. The most singular part of the matter is, that it was manufactured in the space of forty-five minutes--the entire time occupied from the taking of the root out of the ground and putting it into the machine, to the production of the perfect article. It was said that it could be produced for 3d. per lb. An acre of ground is calculated to yield 50 tons of Silesian beet, which, in France and Belgium, give three tons of sugar, worth about £50; the refuse being applied in those countries to feeding cattle. But from the superior fitness of the Irish soil, as shown by experience to be the case, it is confidently affirmed by persons competent to form an opinion, that 8 per cent. of sugar could be obtained there on the raw bulk.

The following figures are given as illustrative of the expense of the cultivation of one acre of beet-root in Ireland:--

Two ploughings and harrowing £1 1 0
Expense of manure and carting 5 0 0
Hoeing and seed 0 6 0
Drilling and sowing 0 5 0
Rent 2 0 0
-------
£8 12 0

An average produce of 20 tons, at £15 per ton, would leave a profit of £6 8s. per acre, leaving the land in a state fit for the reception, at little expense, of a crop of wheat, barley, or oats for the next year, and of hay for the year ensuing; a consideration of no small importance to the farmer. The following estimates, recently given, are not by any means exaggerated:--

61,607 tons of beet, at 10s. £30,803 10 0
Cost of manufacture, at 11s. per ton. 33,883 17 0
-------------
64,687 7 0
Produce 7 per cent of sugar, at 28s. per cwt. 136,767 10 0
-------------
Estimated profit £72,080 3 0

The quantity of sugar made from beet-root in France in 1828, was about 2,650 tons; in 1830, its weight was estimated at 6 million kilogrammes[24] (5,820 tons); in 1834, at 26 million kilogrammes (24,000 tons); in 1835, 36,000 tons; in 1836, 49,000 tons. At the commencement of the year 1837, the number of refineries at work or being built was 543; on an average 20 kilogrammes of beet-root are required for the production of one kilogramme of sugar. The sugar manufactured from the beet-root in France a few years ago was stated to amount to 55,000 tons, or one half of the entire consumption of the kingdom. The _Courrier Francais_ calculated that the beet-root sugar made in France in 1838 amounted to 110 million lbs., and the journal added, there is no doubt that, in a few years, the produce will be equal to the entire demand. The cultivation then extended over 150,000 acres, and in the environs of Lille and Valenciennes it has sometimes been as high as 28,000 lbs. per acre.

From returns of the produce and consumption of beet-root sugar published in the _Moniteur_, it appears that on the 1st Dec. 1851, there were 335 manufactories in operation, or 81 more than in the corresponding period of 1850. The quantity of sugar made, including the portion lying over from the previous year, amounted to 19,625,386 kilogrammes, and that stored in the public bonding warehouse to 10,556,847. At the end of June, 1852, 329 manufactories were at work, or two more than at the same period in 1851. The quantity sold was 62,211,663 kilogrammes, or 9,167,018 less, as compared with the corresponding period of the previous year. There remained in stock in the manufactories 91,434,070 kilogrammes, and in the entrepot 4,597,829 kilogrammes, being an increase of 2,568,662 kilogrammes in the manufactories, and a decrease of 1,292,962 in the entrepots. The manufacture of beet-root sugar is every year assuming in France increased importance, and attracts more and more the attention of political economists as a source of national wealth, and of government, as affording matter of taxation. Thirty new factories, got up upon a very extensive scale, are enumerated as going into operation this year. They are located, with but two exceptions, in the north of France; fifteen of them are in the single department of Nord. Indeed, the manufacture of beet-root sugar is confined, almost exclusively, to the five northern adjacent departments of Nord, Pas de Calais, Somme, Aisne, and Oise. The best quality retails at 16 cents the pound.

I take from a table in the _Moniteur_ the following statement of the number of factories and their location, with the amount of production up to the 31st May, 1851. At that date the season is supposed to end. A separate column gives the total production in the season of 1842, showing an increase in ten years of more than double, viz., of 41,582,113 kilogrammes, or, in our weight, of 93,559,754 pounds.

Number of Kilogrammes Kilogrammes
Departments. Factories. Prod. 1850-1. Prod. 1843.

Aisne 30 5,307,754 3,103,178
Nord 155 44,142,224 15,334,063
Oise 8 1,589,939 751,746
Pas-de-Calais 70 16,665,084 5,856,944
Somme 23 3,404,776 2,683,421
Scattered about 18 2,707,190 3,505,602
------ ------------ ------------
304 73,817,607 30,234,954

This information was given by M. Fould, Minister of Finance, upon the introduction of a bill making an appropriation for the purchase of 455 _saccharometers_, which had become necessary by reason of the late law ordering that from and after the 1st of January, 1852, the beet sugars were to be taxed according to their saccharine richness. The Minister declared that at that date there would be in active operation in France 334 sugar factories and 84 refining establishments.

The _Moniteur Parisien_ has the following:--

"Notwithstanding the advantages accorded to colonial sugar, and the
duties which weigh on beet-root sugar, the latter article has
acquired such a regular extension that it has reached the quantity
of 60,000 tons--that is to say, the half of our consumption. France
(deducting the refined sugar exported under favour of the drawback)
consumes 120,000 tons, of which 60,000 are home made, 50,000
colonial, and 10,000 foreign. The two sugars have been placed on the
same conditions as to duties, but it is only from the 1st inst.
(Jan. 1852), that the beet-root sugar will pay a heavier duty than
our colonial sugar. In spite of this difference we are convinced
that the manufacture of beet-root sugar, which is every day,
improved by new processes, will be always very advantageous, and
will attain in some years the total quantity of the consumption. In
Belgium the produce of the beet-root follows the same progress. The
consumption of sugar there was, in 1850, 14,000 tons, of which 7,000
was beet-root, made in 22 manufactories. This year there are 18 new
ones, and although their organisation does not allow of their
manufacturing in the same proportion as the 22 old ones, they will
furnish at least 3,000 tons. The quantity of foreign sugar in that
market does not reckon more than 4,000 tons. This conclusion is the
more certain, as in 1848-1849, the beet-root only stood at 4,500
tons in the general account. It may therefore be seen from these
figures what progress has been made. The same progressive movement
is going on in Germany. In 1848 it produced 26,000 tons, and in
1861, 43,000. The following table shows the importance of this
improvement. It comprises the Zollverein, Hanover, and the Hanse Towns:--

Cane Sugar. Beet-root. Totals.
Tons. Tons. Tons.
1848 60,500 26,000 86,500
1849 54,000 34,000 88,000
1851 45,000 43,000 88,000

Thus we find that in the period of four years cane sugar has lost
15,000 tons and it will lose still more when new manufactories shall
have been established. The consumption of Russia is estimated at
85,000 tons, of which 35,000 is beet-root, and what proves that the
latter every day gains ground is, that the orders to the Havana are
constantly decreasing, and prices are getting lower. In 1848 Austria
consumed 40,000 tons, of which 8,000 were beet-root. Last year
(1851,) she produced 15,000 tons. The production of the continent
rising to 200,000 tons, and the consumption remaining nearly
stationary, it is evident that Brazilian and Cuban sugars will
encumber the English market, independently of the refined sugar of
Java, which Holland sends to Great Britain. When the continental
system was established by the decrees of Milan and Berlin, the
Emperor Napoleon asked the savans to point out the means of
replacing the productions which he proscribed: it is to the active
and useful impulse which his genius impressed on all minds, that
France and Europe owe this fresh manufacture--a creation the more
valuable as its fortunate development required the co-operation of
chemical science and agricultural improvement."

The quantity of sugar extracted from beet-root in the commencement of the process, amounted to only 2 per cent.; but it was afterwards made to yield 5 per cent., and it was then supposed possible to extract 6 per cent. On this calculation the fiscal regulations for the protection of colonial sugars in France were founded; but recent experiments have been made, by means of which as much as ten and a half per cent. of sugar has been obtained. The following notice of the improved process is given in a number of the _Constitutionnel_:--

"It appears that a great improvement is likely to be made in the
manufacture of beet-root sugar. Those who are acquainted with the
process of this manufacture, are aware that M. de Dombasle has the
last six years exclusively devoted himself to bring to perfection
the process of maceration, of which he is the inventor. Adopting
recent improvements, this process is materially altered, and has now
arrived at such a point of perfection that it could scarcely be
exceeded. The Society for the Encouragement of National Industry
recently appointed committees to examine the effect produced in the
manufactory of Roville. They witnessed the entire progress of the
work, every part of which was subjected to minute investigation.
Similar experiments have been made in the presence of many
distinguished manufacturers. We have not the least intention to
prejudge the decision which may be made on this subject by the
society we have alluded to; but we believe we are able to mention
the principal results that have regularly attended the works of the
manufactory this year. The produce in coarse sugar has been more
than eight per cent. of the first quality, and more than two per
cent. of the second quality, in all nearly ten and a half per cent.
of the weight of beet-root used; and the quality of these sugars has
been considered by all the manufacturers superior to anything of the
kind that has hitherto been made, and admits of its being converted
into loaf-sugar of the first quality. The progress of these
operations is as simple as possible, and the expenses attending the
manufacture are considerably less than that of the process hitherto
adopted."

The cultivation of the beet in France appears likely to prove still more advantageous, in consequence of the discovery that the molasses drawn from the root may be, after serving for the manufacture of sugar, turned to farther advantage. It appears that potash may be made from it, of a quality equal to foreign potash. A Monsieur Dubranfaut has discovered a method of extracting this substance from the residue of the molasses after distillation, and which residue, having served for the production of alcohol, was formerly thrown away. To give some idea of the importance of the creation of this new source of national wealth (remarks the _Journal des Debats_), it will be sufficient to say that the quantity of potash furnished by M. Dubranfaut's process is equal to l/6th of the quantity of sugar extracted from the beet. Thus, taking the amount of indigenous sugar manufactured each year at seventy million kilogrammes (each kil. equal to 2 lbs. 2 oz. avoird.), there may besides be extracted from this root, which has served for that production, twelve million kilogrammes of saline matter, comparable to the best potash of commerce; and this, too, without, the loss of the alcohol and the other produce, the fabrication of which may be continued simultaneously. According to the present prices, the twelve millions of kilogrammes represent a value of from fourteen to fifteen million francs.

The States composing the German Union possessed towards the close of 1838, 87 manufactories of beet-root sugar in full operation, viz., Prussia, 63; Bavaria, 5; Wurtemburg, 3; Darmstadt, 1; other states, 15; besides 66 which were then constructing.

The only returns given for Prussia and Central Germany are 1836 to 1838, and the annual production of sugar was then estimated at eleven million pounds. The quantity now made is, of course, much greater.

At the close of 1888, Austria produced nine million pounds; she now makes fifteen thousand tons.

The growth of beet-root in Hungary, during the years 1837 and 1838, was extremely favorable, and the manufacture of sugar from it has become very extensive. It has been greatly encouraged by the Austrian government. It was estimated that fifty millions of pounds were manufactured in Prussia and Germany in 1839. In Bohemia there were, in 1840, fifty-two factories of beet-root sugar, and nine for the making of syrup out of potato meal. In 1838, the number was as high as eighty-seven.

The Dutch papers state that in a single establishment in Voster Vick, in Guilderland, about five million pounds' weight of the beet-root are consumed in the manufacture of sugar.

The following is a Comparative Statement of the number of Sugar Manufactories, and the Quantity of Beet-root upon which duty was paid for the Manufacture of Sugar in the Zollverein during the years ending the 31st of August, 1846 and 1847:--

-------------------+-------------+-------------------------------------
| |Quantity of Beet-root upon which duty
| |was paid for the Manufacture of Sugar.
| +---------+---------+-----------------
| Number of | | | Comparison in
Name of the State |Manufactories| | | 1846-7 with the
of the Zollverein | | 1845-6 | 1846-7 | preceding year.
+------+------+ | +---------+-------
| | | | | More in |Less in
|1845-6|1846-7| | | 1846-7 |1846-7
-------------------+------+------+---------+---------+---------+-------
Prussia | | |Cwts. ** | Cwts. | Cwts. | Cwts.
Eastern Prussia | 2 | 2 | 12,393| 29,941| 17,548| --
Western Prussia | -- | -- | -- | -- | --- | --
Posen | 7 | 8 | 101,422| 121,914| 20,492| --
Pomerania | 5 | 4 | 89,865| 121,061| 31,196| --
Silesia | 16 | 22 | 590,545| 711,632| 121,087| --
Brandenburg | 3 | 3 | 140,421| 148,066| 7,645| --
Prussian Saxony | 38 | 42 |2,676,084|3,547,891| 871,817| --
Duchies of Anhalt | 4 | 5 | 266,345| 288,082| 21,737| --
Westphalia | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | --
Rhenish Provinces | 2 | -- | 2,479| -- | -- | 2,479
-------------------+------+------+---------+---------+---------+-------
Total in Prussia | 77 | 86 |3,879,554|4,968,587|1,079,043|
-------------------+------+------+---------+---------+---------+-------
Luxemburg | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | --
Bavaria, Kingdom of| 8 | 7 | 50,952| 46,142| -- | 4,810
Saxony, " | 1 | 2 | 20,887| 34,230| 13,343| --
Wurtemburg, " | 2 | 2 | 59,521| 141,366| 81,845| --
Baden, Grand Duchy | 2 | 2 | 316,968| 328,608| 11,640| --
Hesse, Electorate | 2 | 3 | 25,376| 23,529| -- | 1,847
Hesse, Grand Duchy | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | --
Thuringia | 2 | 3 | 36,127| 38,218| 2,091| --
Brunswick, Dukedom | 2 | 2 | 65,707| 52,796| -- | 12,911
Nassau, Dukedom | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | --
Frankfort, FreeCity| -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | --
+------+------+---------+---------+---------+-------
Total, exclusively } | | | | |
of Prussia } 19 | 21 | 575,538| 664,889| 89,351|
+------+------+---------+---------+---------+-------
Total in the | | | | | |
Zollverein | 96 | 107 |4,455,092|5,633,476|1,168,394|
-------------------+------+------+---------+---------+---------+-------
[** Prussian cwts. are equal to 80 English cwts.]

This statement proves that the cultivation of the beet-root, and the subsequent manufacture into sugar, has greatly increased in the Zollverein. Eleven manufactories had been added to the number in the previous year, and an increase of 26 per cent. took place in the quantity of beet-root which was manufactured into sugar. Each manufactory used, upon an average, the following quantity during the undermentioned years:--

1841-2 1844-5 1846-7
Cwts. Cwts. Cwts.
In Prussia generally 38,161 50,384 57,774
In the province of Saxony 55,412 70,423 84,473
In the province of Silesia 33,595 36,909 32,347
In the Zollverein, on an average
in each manufactory 27,237 46,407 52,634

The increase is chiefly evident in the province of Saxony, where, in 1846-7, an augmentation of 1,087,851 cwt. of beet-root; in comparison to the preceding year, took place. If we compare the quantity of beet-root employed in Saxony with that of the whole Zollverein, we find that the former province requires 63 per cent, of the whole quantity used for the manufacture of sugar. The great activity in that province (chiefly in the district of Magdeburg) is rendered more apparent by the following table:--

Comparative Statement of the Number of Manufactories, and their Machinery and Utensils, employed for the Manufacture of Beet-root Sugar in the Prussian Province of Saxony during the years 1841-2 and 1846-7 respectively.

------------------------------+-------------------+--------------------
| |In the neighbourhood
|Province of Saxony | of Magdeburg
+---------+---------+---------+----------
| 1841-2 | 1846-7 | 1841-2 | 1846-7
+---------+---------+---------+----------
| No. | No. | No. | No.
Manufactories | 40 | 39 | 15 | 15
Apparatus for grating | 58 | 65 | 27 | 32
Hydraulic presses | 136 | 209 | 72 | 93
Clarifying pans, with open | | | |
firing | 81 | 68 | 24 | 24
Ditto, by steam | 50 | 76 | 33 | 42
Evaporating pans, with open | | | |
firing | 130 | 123 | 55 | 54
Ditto, by steam | 46 | 71 | 28 | 32
Clarifiers, with open firing | 23 | 21 | 14 | 10
Ditto, by steam | 23 | 28 | 19 | 21
Boiling pans, with open firing| 76 | 61 | 33 | 24
Ditto, by steam | 20 | 35 | 12 | 17
Of which there are vacuum pans| 8 | 21 | 3 | 9
Steam-engines | 19 | 40 | 12 | 20
Horse-power | 210 | 457 | 153 | 267
Cattle mills | 19 | 9 | 4 | 2
Cattle employed | 79 | 38 | 19 | 12
| | | |
| Cwt. | Cwt. | Cwt. | Cwt.
Quantity of beet-root used} | | | |
for manufacture } |2,349,774|3,387,280|1,433,293|1,889,463
Or on an average in each} | | | |
manufactory } | 58,744| 86,853| 95,553| 125,964
------------------------------+---------+---------+---------+----------

The increase of power by machinery is surprising, chiefly by steam and hydraulic presses, which has not only effected a greater produce, but likewise a much larger increase of the quantity of beet-root required for manufacture. The works where draught cattle are employed have decreased, and are only in use where the manufacture of beet root sugar is combined with a farm.

In Russia, in 1832, there existed only 20 manufacturers of beet root sugar, but this number subsequently increased to 100, and they annually produced the twelfth of the total quantity of sugar which Russia receives from foreign parts. The number of those manufactories in 1840, was 140, and the importation of sugar, which reached to 1,555,357 lbs. in 1837, amounted to only 1,269,209 lbs. in 1839. The production of indigenous sugar is now set down at 35,000 tons.

In France, for many years past, the production of beet-root sugar has been rapidly increasing, in spite of a gradual reduction of the protection which it enjoyed against colonial and foreign sugar, until it has reached a quantity of 60,000 tons, or fully one half of the entire consumption. Independent of the refined sugar exported under drawback, the consumption of France may be now estimated at 120,000 tons, of which 60,000 tons are of beet-root, 60,000 tons of French colonial, and 10,000 tons at the outside of foreign sugar. The beet-root and the French colonial sugars are now placed on the same footing as regards duty, and a law was recently passed, subjecting beet-root sugar, from the 1st of January, 1852, to even a higher duty than French colonial sugar. Nevertheless, it is admitted that the manufacture of beet-root sugar is highly profitable and rapidly increasing, so that it is likely in a very short time to exclude foreign sugar from French consumption altogether.

In Belgium, the production of beet-root sugar is also rapidly increasing; in 1851 the entire consumption of sugar was estimated at 14,000 tons, of which 7,000 tons were of beet-root, and 7,000 tons of foreign cane sugar. The number of beet-root factories to supply that quantity was _twenty-two_, but this number has, already increased in the present year to _forty_. Many of these will be but imperfectly at work during this season, but it is estimated that of the entire consumption of 14,000 tons, at least 10,000 tons will consist of beet-root, and only 4,000 tons of foreign cane sugar. And from present appearances the manufacture of beet-root is likely to increase so much as to constitute nearly the entire consumption. So lately as 1848 and 1849 the production of beet-root sugar was only 4,500 tons.

In Austria, the consumption of sugar in 1841 was 40,000 tons, of which 8,000 tons were of beet-root, and 32,000 tons of foreign cane sugar. But the production of beet-root has increased so fast that it is estimated to produce in the present year 15,000 tons; and as no increase has taken place in the entire consumption, the portion of foreign cane sugar required in the present year will be reduced from 32,000 tons to 25,000 tons.

The following information, with regard to the state of the manufacture of beet-root sugar on the Continent last year, has been furnished by Mr. C.J. Ramsay, of Trinidad.

"My first start was for Paris, where I remained a week, procuring
the necessary letters of introduction, to enable me to see some of
the sugar works in the provinces. Whilst there I called upon Messrs.
Cail and Co., the principal machine makers in France, mentioned the
subject of my visit, and requested their assistance. Nothing could
have been more liberal than the way in which they treated me. I was
at once asked to look over their establishment and requested to call
the next day, when letters of introduction to their branch
establishments at Valenciennes and Brussels would be ready for me.
This I of course did, and received not only these letters but some
others, to sugar manufacturers in the neighbourhood of Valenciennes.
Thus provided, and with letters from Mr. D'Eickthal, a banker in
Paris, to Mr. Dubranfaut, the chemist, to Mr. Grar, a refiner of
Valenciennes, to Mr. Melsens of Brussels, and to another sugar maker
near Valenciennes, whose name I forget, and who was the only man
from whom I did not receive the greatest politeness, I started for
Valenciennes. My first essay was upon the latter personage, who
evidently with a considerable grudge showed me a simple room in his
works where four centrifugal machines were at work--raised the cry
of ruin, if the French improvements were introduced in the West
Indies, and informed me he had nothing else worth seeing. I returned
to Valenciennes, thinking if this is the way I was to be treated, I
might as well have stayed at home. That this was a solitary instance
of illiberality, you will presently see. I next called upon Mr.
Grar, by whom I was received in a very different manner; he at once
offered to show me over his works, and especially that part of them
where a new process, discovered by Mr. Dubranfaut, was carried on,
every part of which was fully explained, Mr. Dubranfaut's laboratory
is connected with these works, and having inspected the working part
of the establishment Mr. G. then took me there, and introduced me to
that gentleman, with whom I passed the remainder of the afternoon,
receiving a full explanation of his new process, which is this:--a
solution of hydrate of barytes is made in boiling water--the
saccharine solution to be treated is heated to the same degree, and
the two mixed together in the proportions of 46 parts of hydrate of
barytes to every 100 parts of sugar contained in the solution, which
has previously been ascertained by polariscopic examination. A
saccharate of barytes is immediately formed in the shape of a
copious precipitate; this, after being thoroughly washed and thus
freed from all soluble impurities, is transferred into large, deep
vats, and a stream of carbonic acid gas forced into it, which
decomposes the saccharate of barytes, forming carbonate of barytes,
and liberating the sugar in the shape of a perfectly pure solution
of sugar in water, of the density of 20 to 23 degrees Baumé; the
carbonate of barytes being thoroughly washed is again converted into
caustic barytes by burning, so that there is little loss in the
operation. The whole process is certainly very beautiful, and its
economic working has been tried for a year, on a sufficiently large
scale to leave no doubt as to the economy of the process in refining
molasses, which is the only purpose it has yet been applied to.

The Messrs. Grar were so thoroughly satisfied with it, that when I
was there they had taken down their original apparatus, and were
re-erecting it on such a scale as to work up all the molasses by it,
equal to almost five tons of sugar daily. Owing to this
circumstance, I had not an opportunity of seeing the process on a
working scale, but was shown the whole proceedings in the
laboratory.

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The Commercial Products of the Vegetable KingdomChapter XX: Section I (12)

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