_Mode of Cultivation in Brazil_.--The la_The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c.

grubbed up, either for planting the sugar cane, or for any other

agricultural purposes. The inconveniences of this custom are

perceivable more particularly in high lands; because all of these that

are of any value are naturally covered with thick woods. The cane is

planted amongst the numerous stumps of trees, by which means much

ground is lost, and as the sprouts from these stumps almost

immediately spring forth (such is the rapidity of vegetation) the

cleanings are rendered very laborious. These shoots require to be cut

down sometimes, even before the cane has found its way to the surface

of the ground. The labor likewise is great every time a piece of land

is to be put under cultivation, for the wood must be cut down afresh;

and although it cannot have reached the same size which the original

timber had attained, still as several years are allowed to pass

between each period at which the ground is planted, the trees are

generally of considerable thickness. The wood is suffered to remain

upon the land until the leaves become dry; then it is set on fire, and

these are destroyed with the brush wood and the smaller branches of

the trees. Heaps are now made of the remaining timber, which is

likewise burnt. This process is universally practised in preparing

land for the cultivation of any plant. I have often heard the method

much censured as being injurious in the main to the soil, though the

crop immediately succeeding the operation may be rendered more

luxuriant by it. I have observed that the canes which grew upon the

spots where the heaps of timber and large branches of trees had been

burnt, were of a darker and richer green than those around them, and

that they likewise over-topped them. After the plant-canes, or those

of the first year's growth, are taken from the lands, the field-trash,

that is the dried leaves and stems of the canes which remain upon the

ground, are set fire to, with the idea that the ratoons,--that is, the

sprouts from the old roots of the canes,--spring forth with more

luxuriance, and attain a greater size by means of this practice. The

ratoons of the first year are called in Brazil, _socas_; those of the

second year, _resocas_; those of the third year, _terceiras socas_,

and so forth. After the roots are left unencumbered by burning the

field-trash, the mould is raised round about them; indeed, if this was

neglected, many of those roots would remain too much exposed to the

heat of the sun, and would not continue to vegetate.

Some lands will continue to give ratoons for five, or even seven

years; but an average may be made at one crop of good ratoons fit for

grinding, another of inferior ratoons fit for planting, or for making

molasses to be used in the still-house, and a third which affords but

a trifling profit, in return for the trouble which the cleanings give.

I have above spoken more particularly of high lands. The low and

marshy grounds, called in Brazil, _varzeas_, are, however, those which

are the best adapted to the cane; and, indeed, upon the plantations

that do not possess some portions of this description of soil the

crops are very unequal, and sometimes almost entirely fail, according

to the greater or less quantity of rain, which may chance to fall in

the course of the year. The _varzeas_ are usually covered with short

and close brushwood, and as these admit, from their rank nature, of

frequent cultivation, they soon become easy to work. The soil of

these, when it is new, receives the name of _paul_; it trembles under

the pressure of the feet, and easily admits of a pointed stick being

thrust into it; and though dry to appearance requires draining. The

_macape_ marl is often to be met with in all situations; it is of a

greenish white color, and if at all wet, it sticks very much to the

hoe; it becomes soon dry at the surface, but the canes which have been

planted upon it seldom fail to revive after rain, even though a want

of it should have been much felt. The white marl, _barro branco_, is

less frequently found; it is accounted extremely productive. This clay

is used in making bricks and coarse earthenware, and also for claying

the sugar. Red earth is occasionally met with upon sides of hills near

to the coast; but this description of soil belongs properly to the

cotton districts. Black mould is common, and likewise a loose brownish

soil, in which a less or greater proportion of sand is intermixed. It

is, I believe, generally acknowledged that no land can be too rich for

the growth of the sugar cane. One disadvantage, however, attends soil

that is low and quite new, which is, that the canes run up to a great

height without sufficient thickness, and are thus often lodged (or

blown down) before the season for cutting them arrives. I have seen

rice planted upon lands of this kind on the first year to decrease

their rankness, and render them better adapted to the cane on the

succeeding season. Some attempts have been made to plant cane upon the

lands which reach down to the edge of the mangroves, and in a few

instances pieces of land heretofore covered by the salt water at the

flow of the tide, have been laid dry by means of draining for the same

purpose; but the desired success has not attended the plan, for the

canes have been found to be unfit for making sugar; the syrup does not

coagulate, or at least does not attain that consistence which is

requisite, and therefore it can only be used for the distilleries.

The general mode of preparing the land for the cane is by holing it

with hoes. The negroes stand in a row, and each man strikes his hoe

into the ground immediately before him, and forms a trench of five or

six inches in depth; he then falls back, the whole row doing the same,

and they continue this operation from one side of the cleared land to

the other, or from the top of a hill to the bottom. The earth which is

thrown out of the trench remains on the lower side of it. In the

British West India colonies this work is done in a manner nearly

similar, but more systematically. The lands in Brazil are not

measured, and everything is done by the eye. The quantity of cane

which a piece will require for planting is estimated by so many

cart-loads; and nothing can be more vague than this mode of

computation, for the load which a cart can carry depends upon the

condition of the oxen, upon the nature of the road, and upon the

length of the cane. Such is the awkward make of these vehicles, that

much nicety is necessary in packing them, and if two canes will about

fit into a cart lengthways, much more will be conveyed than if the

canes are longer and they double over each other.

The plough is sometimes used in low lands, upon which draining has not

been found necessary; but such is the clumsy construction of the

machine of which they make use, that six oxen are yoked to it. A

plough drawn by two oxen, constructed after a model which was brought

from Cayenne, has been introduced in one or two instances. Upon high

lands the stumps of the trees almost preclude the possibility of thus

relieving the laborers. The trenches being prepared, the cuttings are

laid longitudinally in the bottom of them, and are covered with the

greatest part of the mould which had been taken out of the trench. The

shoots begin to rise above the surface of the ground in the course of

twelve or fourteen days. The canes undergo three cleanings from the

weeds and the sprouts proceeding from the stumps of the trees; and

when the land is poor, and produces a greater quantity of the former,

and contains fewer of the latter, the canes require to be cleaned a

fourth time. The cuttings are usually 12 to 18 inches in length, but

it is judged that the shorter they are the better. If they are short,

and one piece of cane rots, the space which remains vacant is not so

large as when the cuttings are long, and they by any accident fail.

The canes which are used for planting are generally ratoons, if any

exist upon the plantation; but if there are none of these, the

inferior plant canes supply their places. It is accounted more

economical to make use of the ratoons for this purpose; and many

persons say that they are less liable to rot than the plant canes. In

the British sugar islands the cuttings for planting are commonly the

tops of the canes which have been ground for sugar. But in Brazil the

tops of the canes are all thrown to the cattle, for there is usually a

want of grass during the season that the mills are at work. In the

British colonies, the canes are at first covered with only a small

portion of mould, and yet they are as long in forcing their way to the

surface as in Brazil, though in the latter a more considerable

quantity of earth is laid upon them. I suppose that the superior

richness of the Brazilian soil accounts for this. Upon rich soils the

cuttings are laid at a greater distance, and the trenches are dug

farther from each other, than upon those which have undergone more

frequent cultivation, or which are known to possess less power from

their natural composition. The canes which are planted upon the former

throw out great numbers of sprouts, which spread each way; and,

although when they are young, the land may appear to promise but a

scanty crop, they soon close, and no opening is to be seen. It is

often judged proper to thin the canes, by removing some of the suckers

at the time that the last cleaning is given; and some persons

recommend that a portion of the dry leaves should also be stripped off

at the same period, but on other plantations this is not practised.

The proper season for planting is from the middle of July to the

middle of September, upon high lands, and from September to the middle

of November in low lands. Occasionally, the great moisture of the soil

induces the planter to continue his work until the beginning of

December, if his people are sufficiently numerous to answer all the

necessary purposes. The first of the canes are ready to be cut for the

mill in September of the following year, and the crop is finished

usually in January or February. In the British sugar islands the canes

are planted from August to November, and are ripe for the mill in the

beginning of the second year. Thus this plant in Brazil requires from

thirteen to fifteen months to attain its proper state for the mill;

and in the West India islands it remains standing sixteen or seventeen

months.

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.

MAURITIUS NATAL

£ s. d. | £ s. d.

LAND, per acre, £3 10s. to 20 0 0 | LAND, per acre, 10s.

| to 1 0 0

RENT OF LAND. It is not | RENT OF LAND, 6d. to 0 5 0

customary to let land at |

the Mauritius, except on |

the system of an equal |

division of the produce. |

MANURE. Guano, commonly | CATTLE MANURE in

used in its dry state, | abundance, according to

also other manures or | distance, per load,

composts, per ton, £6 to 7 0 0 | 1s. to 0 2 6

| (None required on

| virgin soil for the

| first three years of

| cultivation.)

LIVE STOCK. Mules, 5 of | Oxen, of which 12 are

which are required to each | required to each load,

load of 3,000 to 4,000 | £3 each 36 0 0

lbs., £30 each 150 0 0 | Keep of oxen, on

Keep of Mules each, per | pasturage free.

annum 7 0 0 |

LABOR. Drivers, each, per | Colored driver,

month 1 0 0 | each, per month 0 15 0

Coolies, including keep, | Kafir leader, ditto 0 10 0

each 1 0 0 | Kafirs, including

White labor, each 4 0 0 | keep, ditto 0 10 0

| White labor, each

| per month, £3 10s. to 4 0 0

FUEL. Cane trash or wood | Cane trash or wood

MILL POWER. Steam or water | The same

IMPLEMENTS. All agricultural | All agricultural labor

labor is performed by the | is performed with the

hand-hoe, very expensive | plough, harrows, and

in its nature. | scarifier, with oxen

| so much less expensive

| than the hand labor at

| the Mauritius.

PRODUCE of the Cane. Average | From 2 to 3 tons

from 1 to 4 tons. |

CANE. Periodical renewal of | Not yet ascertained,

the cane, according to the | and depending on the soil

quality of the soil, every |

3 to 10 years |

£. s. d. | £. s. d.

PROVISIONS, &c. Beef, | PROVISIONS, &c. Beef,

per lb. 6d. to 0 0 8 | per lb., 1½d. to 0 0 2½

Bread, per loaf 0 0 6 | Bread, per loaf 0 0 6

Butter, per lb., 1s. 3d. | Butter, per lb., 6d. to 0 0 9

to 0 1 6 |

Rice, the food of the | Indian corn, (maize per

Coolies, per bag of | 180 lbs. 5s.) per 150

150 lbs., 12s. 6d. to 0 15 0 | lbs. 0 4 2

Oats, per bag, of 100 | Oats, per 104 lbs., 10s.

lbs. 12s. 6d. to 0 15 0 | to 1 0 0

Bran, ditto, 100 lbs. | Bran, not used.

12s. to 0 13 9 |

Beans, ditto, 100 lbs. | Beans, per 180 lbs., 13s.

22s. 6d. to 1 5 0 | to 20s., or per 100 lbs.

| 7s. 2d. to 0 11 0

Coal, per ton, 40s. to 2 10 0 | The same

CHARGE OF MANUFACTURE. | The Mauritius principle

The manufacturer reaps | may be adopted in this

and carries to the mill | colony, with such

the canes of the grower, | modifications as may be

but the latter provides | called for by local

his own bagging, and | exigencies.

carts away his half of |

the sugar, the other |

half being the |

remuneration of the |

manufacturer |

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.

-----------------+-------+---------+---------+-------+-------+-------+------

| | | | etc. |at 11s.| slave |

| | | | | per | trade |

| | | | | cwt. | labor |

| | | | | | cwt. |

-----------------+-------+---------+---------+-------+-------+-------+------

_British | s. d.| Tons. | Tons. | s d. | s. d. | s. d.| s. d.

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 |

(Beet-root) B* | | | 100,000 | 24 4 | 13 4 | 16 4 |

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.

+------+------+ | +---------+-------

|1845-6|1846-7| | | 1846-7 |1846-7

-------------------+------+------+---------+---------+---------+-------

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|

+------+------+---------+---------+---------+-------

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.

The only difficulties I see in applying this process at once to the

cane juice, are the large quantity of barytes required, the expense

of re-burning it and the entire change in works that would be

necessary before it could be introduced. The advantage would be, the

obtaining the whole sugar contained in the juice, free from all

impurities, consequently white, and in the shape of a syrup marking

20 to 23 degrees instead of 8 or 10 degrees, thus saving fully half

the evaporation now required. The sugar made in this way, I was

told, contains no trace of barytes.

To show you the degree of economy practised in such establishments

in France, I may mention that the washings of the saccharate of

barytes are sold to the makers of potash and soda, who make a profit

by boiling them down to obtain what salts they contain.

The carbonic acid is obtained by the combustion of charcoal in a

closed iron furnace into which air is forced by an air pump,

requiring, I believe, about one horse power. From the top of the

furnace a pipe leads into a washing vessel, from which the gas is

led into the bottom of the vats by pipes.

At Valenciennes I met with Mr. Cail, who, beside being an engineer

and machine-maker, is interested in sugar-making, both in France and

in the West Indies, and most thoroughly understands the subject. He

invited me to accompany him to Douai, to see a new set of works

which had been set agoing this month. I was of course too glad to

accept his invitation, and started with him at six next morning,

reached Douai at eight, and then proceeded to the works, which are a

few miles out of town. In this work a new process is also employed;

it is that of Mr. Rouseau, and is said to answer well. The beet root

juice, as soon as possible after expression, is thrown up by a

montjus into copper clarifiers with double bottoms, heated by steam

at a pressure of five atmospheres. To every hundred litres of juice

(=22 gals.) two kilogrammes of lime are added (about four and a half

pounds English weight). The lime is most carefully prepared and

mixed with large quantities of hot water till it forms a milk

perfectly free from lumps. The steam is turned off, and the juice

heated to 90 deg. A complete defecation has taken place, the steam

is shut off, and the juice left a short time, to allow the heavier

impurities to subside. It is then run off in the usual manner,

undergoes a slight filtration through a cotton cloth placed over a

layer of about four inches thick of animal charcoal, and runs into a

second set of copper vessels placed on a lower level than the

clarifiers; these vessels are heated by means of a coil of steam

piping sufficient to make them boil. A second pipe passes into them,

making a single turn at the bottom of the vessel; this is pierced on

the lower side with small holes, through which a stream of carbonic

acid gas is forced.

This decomposes the saccharate of lime, which has been formed in

consequence of the large excess of lime added to the clarifiers.

The lime is precipitated as carbonate. When precipitation has

ceased, steam is turned on, and the whole made to boil; this expels

any excess of carbonic acid; the liquor is then run off, undergoes a

similar partial filtration to that mentioned above, and is then

passed through the charcoal filters to be decomposed. The sugar made

by this process, directly from the beet-root juice, is nearly white.

The molasses is re-boiled as often as six times; each time

undergoing a clarification and filtration through animal charcoal.

And the proceeds of the last re-boiling is certainly in appearance

not worse than a great deal of muscovado I have seen shipped from

Trinidad.

In this work there are about 150 people employed. The work goes on

night and day, one gang replacing the other. The whole evaporation

is done by two vacuum pans, each 6½ feet in diameter, 80,000

kilogrammes of beet-root are used daily, from which about 6,000

kilogrammes of sugar are obtained, equal to about 6 tons English

weight.

In these and every other works I visited--eight in all--the

centrifugal machines were in use, and had in most cases been so for

two years; those lately made have been much simplified in

construction, and work admirably. Cail & Co., of Paris, are the

makers; their charge is 3,000 francs for each machine (£120 stg.).

They require about one and a half horse power each. As they are

wrought in France, one machine is about equal to work off a ton and

a half of sugar daily, working all the 24 hours. Mr. Cail recommends

a separate engine for those machines; so that they can be used at

any time, independent of the other machinery. The charge put into a

machine is about 80 kilogrammes, from which about 30 to 35

kilogrammes of dry sugar is obtained; the calculation is, I believe,

40 per cent. I weighed some of the baskets of sugar taken out after

drying, and found them 35 kilogrammes. Sugar intended for the

machine is never concentrated beyond 41 degrees Baumè; that made

from the juice direct is allowed 18 to 34 hours to crystallize, and

is put into the machine in a semi-liquid state; the motion at first

is comparatively slow; in about three minutes the sugar appears

nearly dry; about three-fourths of a gallon of brown syrup is then

poured into the machine whilst in motion, and the speed brought up

to its highest, about 1200 revolutions a minute; in 3 or 4 minutes

more the machine is stopped, the sugar scooped out and thrown into

baskets, the inside of the revolving part, and especially the wire

cloth, carefully washed with a brush and water, and a fresh charge

put in. The whole time betwixt each charge is about 15 minutes. From

the large proportion of molasses you will see very plainly that

those who do not intend to re-boil, need not think of centrifugal

machines. The sugar dried in this way is not altogether white, but

has a slight greyish yellow tinge.

Of the other sugar works which I visited, the only one of peculiar

interest was that of Mr. Dequesne, near Valenciennes. Here the roots

are first cut into small pieces by an instrument similar to a turnip

slicer, then dried in a species of kiln, and stored up till

required. In this way I was told beet-root could be preserved with

very little deterioration for a full year, and this enables Mr.

Dequesne to go on making sugar all the year round. When the sugar is

to be extracted, the dried cuttings are put into a series of closed

vessels connected by pipes, and by a system of continuous filtration

of warm water through these vessels the solution of sugar is

obtained, of a density equal, I believe, to 25 degrees Baumè; it is

a good deal colored, and requires filtration through animal

charcoal. Mr. Dequesne informed me that for five years he had been

unable to make this mode of sugar-making cover its expenses, owing

to the loss occasioned by fermentation taking place in the

beet-root; but that he has now entirely overcome that difficulty; by

what means I was not told.

The number of macerating vessels is fourteen, ten of which are

working at a time, the other four filling and emptying.

A greater number of vessels, Mr. Dequesne thinks, would be

advantageous, as cold instead of hot water could then be employed.

He thinks a similar plan might be introduced in the West Indies with

great advantage, and that by employing the proper means to prevent

fermentation the sun's heat would be quite sufficient to dry the

cane slices.

Mr. Dubranfaut and Mr. Rouseau's processes are patented in England.

The terms for the use of the former would, I was told, be made so

moderate, as to offer no obstruction to its being used in the

colonies. What Mr. Rouseau's terms are I could not learn.

There are now 288 works making beet root sugar in France, and over

30 in Belgium. The same manufacture is rapidly spreading in Germany

and Russia, and is now being introduced in Italy. Whilst at

Valenciennes, I learned that two English gentlemen had just preceded

me in visiting the works in that neighbourhood, mentioning that they

had in view introducing the beet root sugar manufacture in Ireland.

The sugar crop of France was last year over 60,000,000 of

kilogrammes (60,000 tons). For two years _Belgium has been

exporting_ to the Mediterranean. One maker told me that he had last

year exported a considerable part of his crop. It would therefore

appear, that even beet root sugar can compete in _other than the

producing country_ with the sugar of the tropics--a most significant

hint that, unless the cane can be made to yield more and better

sugar than is now generally got from it, there is some risk of its

being ultimately beaten by the beet root, the cultivation of which

is now carried on with so much profit that new works are springing

up every year, in almost every country of the continent.

In going through the French works, I made inquiries as to how far

the procedé Melsens had been adopted, and was everywhere told it was

a total failure. I, however, determined to see Mr. Melsens and judge

for myself how far it might be applicable to the cane, even if a

failure with regard to the beet root. I, therefore, went on to

Brussels, enclosed my letters of introduction and card, and received

in return a note, appointing to meet me next morning. I found him

one of the best and most obliging of men. He immediately offered to

go over some experiments on beet root juice with me at his

laboratory, where I accordingly spent the greater part of two days

with him, and went over a variety of experiments; and from what I

saw and assisted in doing, I feel strongly inclined to think that,

notwithstanding the French commission at Martinique report

otherwise, some modification of Mr. Melsens' process may be most

advantageously employed in making cane sugar if not as a defecator,

at least to prevent fermentation, and, probably, also as a

decolorising agent.

Mr. Melsens showed me letters he had received from Java from a

person with whom he had no acquaintance, stating that he had used

the bisulphate of lime with complete success; and whilst I was with

him he again received letters from the same person, stating that by

its use he had not only improved the quality of sugar, but had

raised the return to 9 per cent. of the weight of cane. From the

letters which I saw, the process appears to have been tried on a

very large scale, with the advantage of filters and a vacuum pan.

Where the old mode of leaving half the dirt with the sugar, and

boiling up to a temperature of 340 degrees or thereby, is continued,

I fear there is not much chance of either bisulphate or anything

else making any very great improvement.

The use of bisulphate of lime is patented in England and the

colonies, but I believe I may state the charge for the right of

using it will be made extremely moderate.

The points which appeared to me worthy of remark in visiting the

beet-root sugar works are, the extreme care that nothing shall be

lost--the great attention paid to cleanliness in every part of the

process, besides the particular care given to defecation. No vessel

is ever used twice without being thoroughly washed. Such a thing as

the employment of an open fire in any part of the manufacture is

quite unknown. Everything is done by steam, of a pressure of from 4

to 5 atmospheres. In the more recently started works, the

evaporation is entirely carried on in vacuum. In some of the older

works copper evaporators, heated by coils of steam piping, and

having covers, with chimneys to carry off the vapor, are still used;

but of the eight works I visited I only saw them in use in one of

them, and they are nowhere used excepting to evaporate to the point

when the second filtration takes place.

The coolers I saw were invariably made of iron, and varied in depth

from 2 to over 6 feet. These very deep vessels are used for the

crystallization of sugar, made of the fourth, fifth and sixth

re-boilings of molasses, which requires from three to six months.

One thing struck me forcibly in going over the French and Belgian

works; it was the extreme liberality with which I was allowed to go

over every part of them; to remain in them as long as I pleased; had

all my inquiries answered, and every explanation given; in most

striking contrast to the grudging manner in which I have been

trotted over some of the refineries in England, as if those who

showed them were afraid I should gain any information on the subject

of their trade.

Mr. H. Colman, speaking of the agriculture of the Continent, gives

some information he obtained on the comparative cost of producing beet

and cane sugar. A hectare (two and a half acres) produces, in the Isle

of Bourbon, about 76,000 kilogrammes (a kilogramme is nearly two and

one-fifth pounds) of cane, which will give 2,200 kilogrammes of sugar,

and the cost for labor is 2,500 francs. A hectare of beet root

produces 40,000 kilogrammes of roots, which yield 2,400 kilogrammes of

sugar, and the expense of the culture is 354 francs. The cost of the

cane sugar in this case is 27 centimes, and of the beet sugar 14

centimes only, per kilogramme.

These are extraordinary statements, and will be looked at by the

political economist and the philanthropist with great interest. There

are few of the northern states of Europe, or of the United States,

which might not produce their own sugar; and when we take into account

the value of this product, even in its remains after the sugar is

extracted, for the fattening of cattle and sheep, and of course for

the enrichment of the land for the succeeding crops, its important

bearing upon agricultural improvement cannot be exaggerated.

According to M. Peligot, the average amount of sugar in beets is 12

per cent.; but, by extraction, they obtain only 6 per cent. The cane

contains about 18 per cent. of saccharine matter, but they get only

about 7½. The expense of cultivating a hectare of beets, according to

Dombasle, is 354 francs. An hectare of cane, which produces 2,200

kilogrammes of sugar, in the Island of Bourbon, and only 2,000 in

French Guiana, demands the labor of twelve negroes, the annual expense

of each of whom is 250 francs, according to M. Labran.--(Commission of

Inquiry in 1840.)

Sugar has become not only an article of luxury, but of utility, to

such a degree, that a supply of it constitutes an important article

of importation, and is of national consequence. For sugar the world

has hitherto relied on the cane, with the exception of some parts of

India, where the sugar palm yields it much more cheaply. The sugar

cane is, however, a tropical plant, and, of course, its cultivation

must of necessity be limited to such hot countries. France, during the

wars of Napoleon, shut out from her Indian possessions or deprived of

them, commenced making sugar from beets, and it proving unexpectedly

successful and profitable, it has as we have just seen, extended not

only over that empire, but nearly the whole of continental Europe,

where it forms an important item in their system of cultivation and

profit. The manufacture has been attempted in the United States; but

though the facts of the ease and certainty with which the beets may be

grown and their great value for stock has been fully ascertained,

still little progress in the production of sugar from them has been

made there.

MAPLE SUGAR.

There are few trees in the American forest of more value than the

maple (_Acer saccharinum_). As an ornamental tree, it is exceeded by

few; its ashes abound in alkali, and from it a large proportion of the

potash of commerce is produced; and its sap furnishes a sugar of the

best quality, and in abundance. It likewise affords molasses and an

excellent vinegar. In the maple the sugar amounts to five per cent. of

the whole sap. There is no tree whose shape and whose foliage is more

beautiful, and whose presence indicates a more generous, fertile, and

permanent soil than the rock maple: in various cabinet-work its timber

vies with black walnut and mahogany for durability and beauty; and as

an article of fuel its wood equals the solid hickory. Its height is

sometimes 100 feet, but it usually grows to a height varying from

forty to eighty feet. It is bushy, therefore an elegant shade tree.

The maple is indigenous to the forests of America, and wherever there

has been opportunity for a second growth, this tree attains to a

considerable size much sooner than might be imagined. In the course of

ten or fifteen years the maple becomes of a size to produce sugar. The

trees which have come up since the first clearing, produce sap that

yields much more saccharine than the original forest maples.

The whole interior of the northern part of the United States have

relied, and still rely, more on their maple woodlands for sugar than

on any other source; and as a branch of domestic manufacture and home

production, the business is of no little consequence. The time

occupied too in the manufacture is very limited, and occurs at a

season when very little other labor can be performed.

Hitherto but comparatively little attention has been bestowed upon

this important branch of industry in Canada. The inhabitants of that

province might doubtless manufacture a sufficient quantity of maple

sugar to supply the demand or consumption in this article for the

whole population of the country. This variety of sugar may be refined,

and made as valuable for table use as the finest qualities of West

India sugar. On the south shore of Lake Huron, and the islands of

that inland sea, there are forests of sugar

maple unsurveyed capable of producing a supply for the whole

population. The Indians upon those islands have lately turned their

attention pretty largely to the manufacture of sugar from the maple;

and many tons have been exported from this source. If the Indians

could obtain a fair value for their sugar, say seven or eight dollars

per 100 lbs., they would extend their operations upon a large scale.

Upon these islands alone, there are upwards of a million of full-grown

maple trees, capable of yielding each from two and a half to three

pounds of excellent sugar per annum; and if proper attention were

given to this branch of production in that quarter, I see no reason

why a most profitable business could not be carried on. Every farmer

who has a grove of sugar maple, should endeavour to manufacture at

least sufficient for the consumption of his own family. In most cases

150 trees of medium growth would yield an amount of sap that would

make 300 lbs. of sugar, twenty-five gallons of molasses, and a barrel

of vinegar. The labor required to manufacture this amount of sugar,

molasses, and vinegar, would scarcely be felt by the well-organised

cultivator, as the season for the business is at the close of the

winter, and opening spring, when no labor can be done upon the land.

In proportion to the amount of labor and money expended in the

production of maple sugar, it is as capable of yielding as large a

return of profits as any other branch of farm business. It is

certainly an object of great national interest to the inhabitants of

our North American Colonies, that they should supply their own market

with such products as their highly-favored country is capable of

producing. Sugar is an article which will ever find a ready sale at

highly-remunerating prices, provided that it be properly manufactured

and brought into market in good condition. It requires a little outlay

at first to purchase buckets, cisterns, and boilers, to stock a sugar

bush; but by carefully using the above necessary apparatus, they will

last for a very long period. A farmer can supply himself with the

suitable materials for performing the sugar business without any cost

further than his own labor. The spring is the season of the year that

everything should be put in readiness,--even the wood should be

chopped and drawn to the spot, so that when the sap commences to run,

there may be no impediments in the way to hinder the complete success

of the business.

Large tracts of land in the Ottawa district are covered with the true

sugar maple. It is found in great numbers in the eastern townships of

Lower Canada, where considerable forests of miles in extent contain

nothing else, and in other places it is mixed with various trees.

There is scarcely a spot in Lower Canada where it is not to be met

with. Capt. Marryatt has stated that there were trees enough on the

shores of Lakes Huron and Superior, to supply the whole world with

sugar. In the United States, the manufacture of the sugar was first

attempted about the year 1752, by some farmers of New England, as a

branch of rural economy. This gradually spread wherever the tree was

known. Now it forms an article of food throughout a large portion of

the country. Almost every farmer prepares sugar enough from the trees

in his neighbourhood for the consumption of his family during the

year, and has often a surplus for sale. It is much cheaper than

muscovado, being sold at from 2d. to 3½d. per pound, whilst common

muscovado cannot be bought for less than 4½d. to 5d. per pound.

The province of Canada produced nearly ten million pounds in 1852,

6,190,694 being made in Lower Canada, and 3,581,505 in Upper Canada.

The quantity made in Lower Canada in 1849 was only about 1,537,093

lbs. The maple sugar product of the Canadas in 1848 was officially

stated as follows:--

lbs.

Upper Canada 4,160,667

Lower Canada 2,303,158

---------

6,463,835

This product is therefore of immense importance to the British North

American provinces, all of which, under a judicious system, might be

made to produce vastly increased quantities of this wholesome and

valuable commodity.

The importation of sugar in Canada may very safely be computed at

£40,000 per annum, and the whole of this amount of money could be

retained in the country if the people would only look well to the

matter.

In tapping the tree, the gouge is the best implement that can be used,

provided it is an object to save the timber. It is usual, when using

the gouge, to take out a chip about an inch and a half in diameter;

but this system is objectionable where the maple is not abundant, as

it subjects the timber to decay; it is a better course to make an

incision by holding the gouge obliquely upwards an inch or more in the

wood. A spout, or spile, as it is termed, about a foot long, to

conduct off the sap, is inserted about two inches below this incision

with the same gouge. By this mode of tapping, the wound in the tree is

so small that it will be perfectly healed or grown over in two years.

A boiler, of thick sheet-iron, made to rest on the top of an arch, by

which the sides would be free from heat, and only the bottom is

exposed, is doubtless a secure and rapid process of evaporation. The

sides and ends of the boiler may be made of well-seasoned boards,

which will answer the same purpose as if made solely of sheet-iron.

When the sap is boiled down into syrup or thin molasses, it must be

taken out of the boiler and strained through a flannel cloth into a

tub, where it should settle about twenty-four hours. The clear syrup

should be separated from the sediment, which will be found in the

bottom of the tub. The pure syrup must be boiled down into sugar over

a slow fire. A short time, however, before the syrup is brought to a

boiling heat, to complete the clarifying process, the whites of five

eggs well beaten, about one quart of new milk, and a spoonful of

saleratus, should be all well mixed with a sufficient amount of syrup,

to make 100 lbs. of sugar. The scum which would rise on the top must

be skimmed off. Caution is to be observed in not allowing the syrup to

boil until the skimming process is completed. To secure a good

article, the greatest attention must be bestowed in granulating the

syrup. The boxes or tubs for draining should be large at the top and

small at the bottom. The bottom of the tubs should be bored full of

small holes, to let the molasses drain through. After it has nearly

done draining, the sugar may be dissolved, and the process of

clarifying, granulating, and draining repeated, which will give as

pure a quality of sugar as the best refined West India article.

The greatest objections that are advanced against maple sugar are,

that the processes made use of in preparing the sugar for market are

so rude and imperfect that it is too generally acid, and besides

charged with salts of the oxide of iron, insomuch that it ordinarily

strikes a black color with tea. These objections may be removed

without any comparative difficulty, as it has been proved to

demonstration, by the application of one ounce of clear lime-water to

a gallon of maple sap, that the acidity will be completely

neutralised, and the danger of the syrup adhering to the sides of the

boiler totally removed. The acid so peculiar to the maple sugar, when

combined with lime in the above proportion, is found to be excessively

soluble in alcohol; so much so, that yellow sugar can be rendered

white in a few minutes by placing it in an inverted cone, open at the

top, with small holes at the bottom, and by pouring on the base of the

cone a quantity of alcohol. This should filtrate through until the

sugar is white; it should then be dried and re-dissolved in boiling

water, and again evaporated until it becomes dense enough to

crystallise. Then pour it into the cones again, and let it harden. By

this process a very white sample of sugar may be made, and both the

alcohol and acids will be thoroughly dispelled with the vapor.

The process of making maple sugar it will be seen is very simple and

easily performed. The trees must be of suitable size, and within a

convenient distance of the place where the operations of boiling, &c.,

are to be performed. When gathered, the sap should be boiled as early

as possible, as the quality of the sugar is in a great degree

dependent on the newness or freshness of the sap. There is a tendency

to acidity in this fluid which produces a quick effect in preventing

the making of sugar; and which, when the sap is obliged to be kept for

many hours in the reservoirs, must be counteracted by throwing into

them a few quarts of slaked lime. During the time of sugar making,

warm weather, in which the trees will not discharge their sap,

sometimes occurs, and the buckets become white and slimy, from the

souring of the little sap they contain. In this case they should be

brought to the boiler and washed out carefully with hot water, and a

handful of lime to each.

In reducing the sap, the great danger to be apprehended is from

burning the liquid after it is made to the consistence of molasses,

since, when this is done, it is impossible to convert it into sugar; a

tough, black, sticky mass, of little value, being the result. Indeed,

constant care and attention is required to produce a first-rate

article: for though sugar may be made in almost any way where the sap

can be procured, yet unless the strictest care is observed in the

processes, in gathering and boiling the sap, clarifying the syrup, and

in converting the syrup to sugar, a dirty inferior article will be

made, instead of the beautiful and delicious sweet which the maple,

properly treated, is sure to yield.

The quantity of sugar produced in a year varies considerably from the

same trees. The cause of this difference is to be found in the depth

of snow, continued cold, or a sudden transition from cold to warm,

thus abridging the period of sugar-making. A sharp frost at night,

with clear warm days, is the most favorable to the sugar-maker.

Perhaps four pounds of sugar from a tree may be a pretty fair average

of seasons generally, although we have known the growth to exceed six

pounds, and sink as low as three. A man will take care of one hundred

trees easily, during the season of sugar, which usually lasts from

about the middle of March into April, perhaps employing him twenty

days in the whole. Dr. Jackson, in his Report of the Maine Geological

Survey, gives the following instances of the production of sugar in

that State:--

Lbs. of Sugar.

At the Forks of the Kennebec, twelve persons made 3,605

On No. 1, 2d range, one man and a boy made 1,000

In Farmington, Mr. Titcomb made 1,500

In Moscow, thirty families made 10,500

In Bingham, twenty-five families made 9,000

In Concord, thirty families made 11,000

A cold and dry winter is followed with a greater yield of sugar from

the maple than a season very moist and variable. Trees growing in wet

places will yield more sap, but much less sugar from the same

quantity, than trees on more elevated and drier ground. The red and

white maple will yield sap, but it has much less of the saccharine

quality than the rock or sugar maple.

The work begins usually about the first of March. The tree will yield

its sap long before vegetation appears from the bud: frequently the

most copious flow is before the snow disappears from the ground.

Some persons have a camp in their maple orchards, where large

cauldrons are set in which to boil down the sap to the consistency of

a thick syrup: others take the liquid to their houses, and there boil

down and make the sugar.

The process begins by the preparation of spouts and troughs or tubs

for the trees: the spouts or tubes are made of elder, sumach, or pine,

sharpened to fit an auger hole of about three-fourths of an inch in

diameter. The hole is bored a little upward, at the distance

horizontally of five or six inches apart, and about twenty inches from

the ground on the south or sunny side of the tree. The trough, cut

from white maple, pine, ash, or bass wood, is set directly under the

spouts, the points of which are so constructed as completely to fill

the hole in the tree, and prevent the loss of the sap at the edges,

having a small gimlet or pitch hole in the centre, through which the

entire juice discharged from the tree runs, and is all saved in the

vessels below. The distance bored into the tree is only about one-half

an inch to give the best run of sap. The method of boring is far

better for the preservation of the tree than boxing, or cutting a hole

with an axe, from the lower edge of which the juice is directed by a

spout to the trough or tub prepared to receive it. The tub should be

of ash or other wood that will communicate no vicious taste to the

liquid or sugar.

The sap is gathered daily from the trees and put in larger tubs for

the purpose of boiling down. This is done by the process of a steady

hot fire. The surface of the boiling kettle is from time to time

cleansed by a skimmer. The liquid is prevented from boiling over by

the suspension of a small piece of fat pork at the proper point. Fresh

additions of sap are made as the volume boils away. When boiled down

to a syrup, the liquor is set away in some earthen or metal vessel

till it becomes cool and settled. Again the purest part is drawn off

or poured into a kettle until the vessel is two-thirds full. By a

brisk and continual fire, the syrup is further reduced in volume to a

degree of consistence best taught by a little experience, when it is

either put into moulds to become hard as it is cooled, or stirred

until it shall be grained into sugar. The right point of time to take

it away from the fire may be ascertained by cooling and graining a

small quantity. The sediment is strained off and boiled down to make

molasses.

The following is from a Massachusetts paper:--

The maple produces the best sugar that we have from any plant.

Almost every one admires its taste. It usually sells in this market

(Boston) nearly twice as high as other brown sugar. Had care been

taken from the first settlement of the country to preserve the sugar

maple, and proper attention been given to the cultivation of this

tree, so valuable for fuel, timber, and ornament, besides the

abundant yield of saccharine juice, we could now produce in New

England sugar enough for our own consumption, and not be dependent

on the labour of those who toil and suffer in a tropical sun for

this luxury or necessary of life. But, for want of this friendly

admonition,

"Axeman, spare that tree,"

the sturdy blows were dealt around without mercy or discretion; and

the very generation that committed devastation in the first

settlements in different sections of our country, generally lived to

witness a scarcity of fuel; and means were resorted to for the

purchase of sugar, that were far more expensive than would have been

its manufacture, under a proper mode of economy in the preservation

of the maple, and the production of sugar from its sap.

Those who have trees of the sugar maple, should prepare in season

for making sugar. In many localities, wood is no object, and a rude

method of boiling is followed; but where fuel is very scarce, a

cheap apparatus should be prepared that will require but little

fuel. In some sections, broad pans or kettles have been made of

sheet-iron bottoms, and sides of plank or boards, care being taken

(continued) to allow the fire to come into contact with the iron

only. These pans cost but a trifle, and, owing to their large

surface, the evaporation is rapid.

Another cheap construction for boiling with economy is, to make a

tight box of plank, some four or five feet square--the width of a

wide plank will answer, and then put into it, almost at the bottom,

a piece of large copper funnel, say ten or twelve inches at the

outer part, and then smaller. This funnel, beginning near one end,

should run back nearly to the opposite side, then turn and come put

at the opposite end, or at the side near the end, as most

convenient, being in only two straight parts, that the soot may be

cleared out. Each end should be made tight, with a flange nailed to

the box. At the mouth of the large part there should be a door, to

reduce the draught; here make the fire, and at the other end have a

funnel to carry off the smoke. In this case, there is only sheet

copper between the fire and the sap which surrounds the funnel, so

that the heat is readily taken up by the liquid, and very little

escapes. This is an economical plan for cooking food for stock,

steaming timber, &c.

For catching the sap, various kinds of vessels are used. The

cheapest are made of white birch, which last one season, or less.

Troughs of pine, or linden or bass wood, may be made for a few cents

each, and they will last for a number of years, if inverted in the

shade of trees. But these are inconvenient; and, after the first

year, they become dirty, and clog the sap. Pails with iron hoops are

the best, and, eventually, the cheapest. By painting and carefully

preserving them, they will cost, for a course of years, about one

cent each for a year.

Mr. Alfred Fitch, in the "Genesee Farmer," says:--

In clarifying, I use for 50 lbs. of sugar one pint of skimmed milk,

put into the syrup when cold, and place it over a moderate fire

until it rises, which should occupy thirty or forty minutes; then

skim and boil until it will grain; after which I put it into a tub,

and turn on a little cold water, and in a few days the molasses will

drain out, and leave the sugar dry, light, and white.

Mr. E.W. Clark, of Oswego, furnishes the following:--

_On Fining Maple Sugar_.--The sweet obtained from the maple tree is

undoubtedly the purest known; but from mismanagement in the

manufacture it frequently becomes very impure. Its value is

lessened, while the expense of making it increases. I am sensible

that the method which I shall recommend is not altogether a new one,

and that it is more by attending to some apparently minute and

trivial circumstances, than to any new plan, that my sugar is so

good. Much has been written upon, and many useful improvements been

made in, that part of the process which relates to tapping the

trees, and gathering and evaporating the sap, &c.; but still, if the

final operation is not understood, there will be a deficiency in the

quality of the sugar. I shall confine myself to that part of the

operation which relates to reducing the syrup to sugar, as it is of

the first importance. My process is this:--When the syrup is reduced

to the consistence of West India molasses, I set it away till it is

perfectly cold, and then mix with it the clarifying matter, which is

milk or eggs. I prefer eggs to milk, because when heated the whole

of it curdles; whereas milk produces only a small portion of curd.

The eggs should be thoroughly beaten and effectually mixed with the

syrup while cold. The syrup should then be heated till just before

it would boil, when the curd rises, bringing with it every impurity,

even the coloring matter, or a great portion of that which it had

received from the smoke, kettles, buckets, or reservoirs. The

boiling should be checked, and the scum carefully removed, when the

syrup should be slowly turned into a thick woollen strainer, and

left to run through at leisure. I would remark, that a great

proportion of the sugar that is made in our country is not strained

after cleansing. This is an error. If examined in a wine-glass,

innumerable minute and almost imperceptible particles of curd will

be seen floating in it, which, if not removed, render it liable to

burn, and otherwise injure the taste and color of it.

A flannel strainer does this much better than a linen one. It is,

indeed, _indispensable_. As to the quantity of eggs necessary, one

pint to a pailful of syrup is amply sufficient, and half as much

will do very well. I now put my syrup into another kettle, which has

been made perfectly clean and _bright_, when it is placed over a

quick but solid fire, and soon rises, but is kept from overflowing

by being ladled with a long dipper. When it is sufficiently reduced,

(I ascertain this by dropping it from the point of a knife, while

hot, into one inch of cold water--if done, it will not immediately

mix with the water, but lies at the bottom in a round flat drop,) it

is taken from the fire, and the foaming allowed to subside. A thick

white scum, which is useable, is removed, and the sugar turned into

a cask, placed on an inclined platform, and left undisturbed for six

weeks or longer, when it should be tapped in the bottom and the

molasses drawn off. It will drain perfectly dry in a few days.

The sugar made in this manner is very nearly as white as lump sugar,

and beautifully grained. We have always sold ours at the highest

price of Muscovadoes; and even when these sugars have sold at

eighteen cents, ours found a ready market at twenty. Two hands will

sugar off 250 lbs. in a day. From the scum taken off in cleansing, I

usually make, by diluting and recleansing, one-sixth as much as I

had at first, and of an equal quality.

It is not of much consequence as regards the quality of the sugar,

whether care be taken to keep the sap clean or not. The points in

which the greatest error is committed, are, neglecting to use a

flannel strainer, or to strain after cleansing--to have the sugar

kettle properly cleaned--and to remove the white scum from the

sugar.

An important process of manufacturing maple sugar, which produces a

most beautiful article, is also thus described in a communication by

the gentleman who gained the first premium at the State Fair at

Rochester in 1843, to the Committee on Maple Sugar of the New York

State Agricultural Society.

In the first place, I make my buckets, tubs, and kettles all

perfectly clean. I boil the sap in a potash kettle, set in an arch

in such a manner that the edge of the kettle is defended all around

from the fire. I boil through the day, taking care not to have

anything in the kettle that will give color to the sap, and to keep

it well skimmed. At night I leave fire enough under the kettle to

boil the sap nearly or quite to syrup by the next morning. I then

take it out of the kettle, and strain it through a flannel cloth

into a tub, if it is sweet enough; if not, I put it in a cauldron

kettle, which I have hung on a pole in such a manner that I can

swing it on or off the fire at pleasure, and boil it till it is

sweet enough, and then strain it into the tub, and let it stand till

the next morning. I then take it and the syrup in the kettle, and

put it altogether into the cauldron, and sugar it off. I use, to

clarify say 100 lbs. of sugar, the whites of five or six eggs well

beaten, about one quart of new milk, and a spoonful of saleratus,

all we'll mixed with the syrup before it is scalding hot. I then

make a moderate fire directly under the cauldron, until the scum is

all raised; then skim it off clean, taking care not to let it boil

so as to rise in the kettle before I have done skimming it. I then

sugar it off, leaving it so damp that it will drain a little. I let

it remain in the kettle until it is well granulated. I then put it

into boxes made smallest at the bottom, that will hold from fifty to

seventy lbs., having a thin piece of board fitted in, two or three

inches above the bottom, which is bored full of small holes, to let

the molasses drain through, which I keep drawn off by a tap through

the bottom. I put on the top of the sugar, in the box, a clean damp

cloth; and over that, a board, well fitted in, so as to exclude the

air from the sugar. After it has done draining, or nearly so, I

dissolve it, and sugar it off again; going through with the same

process in clarifying and draining as before.

The following remarks from Dr. Jackson, of Boston, may be of interest

to the sections of the country where maple sugar is made:--

The northern parts of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York,

have dense forests of the sugar maple, and at present only very rude

processes are made use of in preparing the sugar for market, so that

it is too generally acid and deliquescent, besides being charged

with salts of the oxide of iron, insomuch that it ordinarily strikes

a black color with tea. To remedy these difficulties was the object

of my researches; while, at the same time, I was engaged in

ascertaining the true composition of the sap, with a view to the

theory of vegetable nutrition.

I received several gallons of freshly-drawn maple sap from

Northampton, Warner, and Canterbury, and made analyses of each lot,

separating the acids, salts, and the sugar. I also analysed the sap

of the yellow and white birch, which do not give any crystallisable

sugar, but an astringent molasses.

I shall now communicate to you the process by which I manufactured

sugar maple sap, received from the Shakers of Canterbury, who

collected it with care in a clear glass demijohn, and sent it

forthwith, so that it came to me without any change of composition,

the weather being cold at the time. The evaporation was carried on

in glass vessels until the sap was reduced to about one-eighth its

original bulk, and then it was treated with a sufficient quantity of

clear lime-water to render it neutral, and the evaporation was

completed in a shallow porcelain basin. The result was, that a

beautiful yellow granular sugar was obtained, from which not a

single drop of molasses drained, and it did not deliquesce by

exposure to the air. Another lot of the sap, reduced to sugar

without lime-water, granulated, but not so well, was sour to the

taste, deliquesced by exposure, and gave a considerable quantity of

molasses.

Having studied the nature of the peculiar acid of the maple, I found

that its combinations with lime were excessively soluble in alcohol,

so that the yellow sugar first described could be rendered white in

a few minutes, by placing it in an inverted cone open at the bottom,

and pouring a fresh quantity of alcohol upon it, and allowing it to

filtrate through the sugar. The whitened sugar was then taken and

re-dissolved in boiling water and crystallised, by which all the

alcoholic flavour was entirely removed, and a perfectly fine

crystallised and pure sugar resulted. Now, in the large way, I

advise the following method of manufacturing maple sugar. Obtain

several large copper or brass kettles, and set them up in a row,

either by tripods with iron rings, or by hanging them on a

cross-bar; clean them well, then collect the sap in buckets, if

possible, so that but little rain-water will be mixed with the sap,

and take care not to have any dead leaves in it. For every gallon of

the maple sap _add one measured ounce_ of clear lime-water, pass the

sap into the first kettle and evaporate; then, when it is reduced to

about one-half, dip it out into the second kettle, and skim it each

time; then into the next, and so on, until it has reached the last,

where it is reduced to syrup, and then may be thrown into a trough,

and granulated by beating it up with an oar.

As soon as the first kettle is nearly empty, pour in a new lot of

the sap, and so continue working it forward exactly after the manner

of the West India sugar-boilers. The crude sugar may be refined

subsequently, or at the time of casting it into the cones made of

sheet iron, well painted with white lead and boiled linseed oil, and

thoroughly dried, so that no paint can come off. These cones are to

be stopped at first, until the sugar is cold; then remove the

stopper and pour on the base of the cone a quantity of strong

whiskey, or fourth proof rum. Allow this to nitrate through, until

the sugar is white; dry the loaf, and redissolve it in boiling hot

water, and evaporate it until it becomes dense enough to

crystallise. Now pour it into the cones again, and let it harden. If

any color remains, pour a saturated solution of refined white sugar

on the base of the cone, and this syrup will remove all traces of

color from the loaf.

One gallon of pasture maple sap yielded 3,451 grains of pure sugar.

One gallon of the juice of the sugar cane yields, on an average, in

Jamaica, 7,000 grains of sugar. Hence, it will appear that maple sap

is very nearly half as sweet as cane juice; and since the maple

requires no outlay for its cultivation, and the process may be

carried on when there is little else to be done, the manufacture of

maple sugar is destined to become an important department of rural

economy. It is well known, by the Report of the Statistics of the

United States, that Vermont ranks next to Louisiana as a sugar

state, producing (if I recollect correctly) 6,000,000 of pounds in

some seasons, though the business is now carried on in a very rude

way, without any apparatus, and with no great chemical skill; so

that only a very impure kind of sugar is made, which, on account of

its peculiar flavor, has not found its way into common use, for

sweetening tea and coffee. It would appear worth while, then, to

improve this manufacture, and to make the maple sugar equal to any

now in use. This can be readily accomplished, if the farmers in the

back country will study the process of sugar-making, for cane and

maple sugar are, when pure, absolutely identical. It should be

remarked, that forest maples do not produce so much sugar as those

grown in open fields or in groves, where they have more light, the

under-brush being cleared away.

In Farmington, on the Sandy River, in Maine, I have seen a very fine

grove of maples, but thirty years old, which produced a large yield

of very good sugar. A man and two boys made 1,500 lbs. of sugar from

the sap of these trees in a single season. The sap was boiled down

in potash kettles, which were scoured bright with vinegar and sand.

The sugar was of a fine yellow color, and well crystallised. It was

drained of its molasses in casks, with a false bottom perforated

with small holes--the cask having a hole bored at the bottom, with a

tow plug placed loosely in it, to conduct off the molasses. This

method is a good one, but the sap ought to be limed in boiling, as I

have described; then it will not attach to the iron or copper

boilers. The latter metal must not be used with acid syrup, for

copper salts are poisonous.

There are several towns in the northern sections of Maine, New

Hampshire, and Vermont, that produce more than sufficient sugar for

the consumption of their inhabitants. A lot of good sugar trees will

average four pounds to the tree, in a favorable season. Many farmers

have orchards that will yield five hundred to a thousand pounds of

sugar in a year. As this is made at a season interfering very little

with the general business of the farm, the sugar that the farmer makes

is so much clear gain.

There is, on almost every hill-farm, some place favorable for the

growth of a maple orchard--some rocky spots yielding little grass, and

impervious for the plough. Such spots may be favorably chosen for the

growth of a maple orchard; and whether the increase be used for

manufacturing sugar or molasses, or for timber or fuel, the proprietor

of the land will find a profit better than money at interest in the

growth of this beautiful tree, which will spontaneously propagate

itself in many positions.

Its great excellence consists in yielding sap for the manufacture of

vast quantities of maple sugar in the country during the months of

spring. An open winter, constantly freezing and thawing, is a

forerunner of a bountiful crop of sugar. The orchard of maple trees is

almost equal to a field of sugar cane of the same area, in the

production of sugar. This tree reaches an age of 200 years.

Vermont is the second sugar-producing State in the Union. The amount

of maple sugar produced there in 1840 was over 2,550 tons, being more

than 17¾ pounds to each inhabitant, allowing a population of 291,948.

At five cents a pound, this is worth. 255,963 dols. 20 cents.

The Statistics of the United States census for 1850, show that about

thirty-five millions of pounds (15,250 tons) of maple sugar were

manufactured in that year:--

Maine 97,541

New Hampshire 1,392,489

Massachusetts 768,596

Vermont 5,159,641

Connecticut 37,781

New York 10,310,764

New Jersey 5,886

Pennsylvania 2,218,641

Maryland 47,740

Virginia 1,223,908

North Carolina 27,448

South Carolina 200

Georgia 50

Alabama 473

Mississippi 110

Louisiana 260

Arkansas 8,825

Tennessee 159,647

Kentucky 388,525

Ohio 4,528,548

Michigan 2,423,897

Indiana 2,921,638

Illinois 246,078

Missouri 171,942

Iowa 70,684

Missouri 661,969

Minnesota 2,950

-----------

Total 32,776,671

There is a balance of about two million pounds produced by Rhode

Island, Texas, Oregon, California, Utah, New Mexico, Delaware, and

Florida. The above statement does not include the sugar made by the

Indians, east of the Mississippi river, which may be set down at

10,000,000 lbs., and west of that river 2,000,000 lbs.

Besides the above sugar crop, there was a yield by the sugar maple in

the United States in 1850, of 40,000,000 gallons of maple molasses.

_Maize Sugar_.--The stem and branches of Indian corn, during the time

that its grain is filling, abounds with sugar, even when grown in this

country; so much so, that it might be turned to account by those of

the peasantry who have small plots of ground attached to their

cottages; and I applied a simple method by which a rich syrup may be

obtained from it, equal in sweetness to treacle, and superior to it in

flavor. The proper time for cutting down the plant (which should be

done within an inch of the ground), is when the corn in the ear is

small and full of a milky juice. All the large and old leaves should

be stripped off, leaving only the young and tender ones; they should

then be cut into short lengths, thoroughly bruised, and the juice

entirely pressed out from them. Where the means cannot be obtained for

expressing the juice by this method, the following may be

employed:--After the plants have been cut into small pieces, put them

into a large pot or copper, with only just sufficient water to extract

the juice; boil for one hour, and then strain off the liquor; to each

gallon of this liquor add a wine-glass full of lime-water whilst warm;

but if it be the expressed juice, obtained as above mentioned, add

double the quantity of lime-water. When the liquor is cold, for every

three gallons beat up an egg with some of the liquor; put altogether

into a boiler, and boil gently till the syrup acquires the consistence

of treacle. Whilst this is going on, the liquor should every now and

then be well stirred, and the scum which rises to the surface taken

off. This syrup, which will be found a better substitute for sugar

than treacle, and more wholesome, should be kept in lightly-covered

vessels, in a dry place.

My own observations, twelve years ago, acquainted me with the fact,

that when the grain in the ear has acquired one half of the full size,

the quantity of sugar in the sap has passed its maximum, or begun to

decrease, and continues to do so until it disappears entirely. Lopping

off the young ears makes shorter work of it. It is like taking the

young from an animal giving suck, in which case the milk soon ceases

to flow into the breast, and that which produced it is elaborated into

other fluids necessary to the nourishment of the different parts of

the body of the parent. In the corn-stalk, when deprived of its ears,

the elements of sugar are dissipated by increasing the size of the

plant.

Sugar may also be obtained from the carrot and the parsnip, as well as

from all sweet fruits. It is abundant throughout the vegetable

kingdom; it forms the first food of plants when they germinate in the

seed; when the first little sprout is projected from a grain of corn,

a portion of the farina, or starch, is changed into sugar, which may

be called the blood of the plant, and from it is drawn the nourishment

necessary to its expansion and appearance above the surface of the

earth. In the latter growth of many plants an inverse process is

carried on, as in the Indian corn, which I have just spoken of. In

this instance, as also numberless others, sugar is formed in large

quantities in the body of the plant, and elaborated into farina, or

starch, in the ear. The elements of which sugar and starch are

composed are the same; the only difference is in their proportions.

Chemists, being aware of this, have converted starch into sugar; and

could do it with certainty to any extent, were any advantage to be

gained by it; but hitherto starch has been higher in price than sugar.

The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c. · 第 6 / 20 章

_Mode of Cultivation in Brazil_.--The lands in Brazil are never