Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1870-01-20
from the Augusta Hersld.l
BEET SUGAR IN THE WEST.
F. II. HoUGHToS.

proverbial ''sweet tooth" largely deyel
oped, using as they do more than twice
as much sugar per capita the English,
ten times as much as the French and
Germans, and more than tl0eRty times
rs much as the Russians.
Our French, German, and Russian
cousins, more prudent than we. manu-
facture at home nearly all the sugar they
consume, while we with our broad fertile
lands and almost every necessary appli-
ance ready to our hands, are still obliged
to send thousands of miles to the tropics
to obtain the coveted luxury; paying
charges ad infnituua, in the way of COM
missions to the agents in Cuba, port
charges, lighterage, cooperage, fret hit,
stealage. loading, dscharging, wharfage,
trucking a dozen times, weighing and
duties, besides the enormous shrinkage
and leakage, making the gallon of mo-
lases costing originally in Cuba, ten or
twelve cents, to cost on the dock IN New
York over fifty,-an1 sugar in proper
ton. But the end is not yet. After
passing through the hands of the reiner,
earted about few more times, passing
10 the wholesale merchant and being
brought nearly half way across the con-
tinent, it comes at last to the counter of
the western retailer, where it is sold at an
astonishiugIy low price, considering the
distance it has been brought and the
lands through which it has passed, leav-
ing greenbacks sticking all along its
route.
1t is indeed singular, if with our rich
aud cheap lands, we cannot compete with
foreign sugars, especially, as the cost of
raising an acre of beets is actually less
than an acre of cane, while the yield of
sugar is certainly equal, if not superior.
To raise an acre of cane it requires,
172 days of adult labor. while an acre
of beet needs but 46, and much of that
may be performed by children. The
cost of growing an acre of beet rs aver
aged from a series of thirteen expert
ments in different parts of the U. S,
conducted on large enough scale to dem
onstrate their correctness, is S59,24,
while the average yield is given as PAS
tons.
The lowest cost per ton is given Mt Ga
cents, the highest S4,O5. The farmer
selling his beets at $3.50 per ton would
thus clear profit of S26,44 to the acre
which certainly should satisfy any reas
enable man. In France the cost of rails
ing beets is calculated to be about %
per cent more than wheat; which crop
should usually follow beets.
THE SOIL
for beats should be Loose. free from stones
and not too moist; small amount of lime
in the soil is also advantageous. Newly
cleared land is not suitable the first year
for beets, but should be prepared for
them BY crop Of wheat or some other
grain.
The land should be plowed deeply once
OF twice in the fall, and well turned up
for the frosts to disintegrate the soil;
well narrowed in the spring. when manure
should be literally aud evenly distribu
ted and well plowed in,-harrow again
and roll with a heavy roller and the
field is ready for the seed. which should
be the White Silesian variety.
Before planting, it should be soaked
In water about "a hours and piled in
heaps until signs of termination appear,
when it should be rolled in fine bone
black and sowed in regular rows, so that
the plants will be about Is or Is inches
apart when grown. Care should be ia
ken to keep the roots well covered, as
the part growing above the surface is
poor in sugar.
When harvested, they should be
PlOwed up, carefully topped and placed
IN trenches dug for that purpose.
THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR.
The first process in the manufacture of
sugar. when the beets are brought 20 the
factory. is washing; which is performed
by passing them through a slightly in
clined drum with grated sides, which re-
wolves in a tank of water. which washes
them perfectly clean when they reach
the other end. From. the washer they
pass TO the "pulper", a large cylinder
completely covered with saw-likc teeth,
which speedily reduces them to pulp
The juice is then extracted from the pulp
by enclosing it in strong sacks which are
subjected to the action of powerful hy-
draulic presses, or by placing it in rapid
ly revolving centrifugal machines the
sides of which are composed of perfora-
tel copper plates and fine brass wire
gauze. These are about 2 I-2 feet in
diameter. about Is inches deep and re
volve on a vertical spindle, inside strong
iron case which receives the juice. The
pulp being placed in the machine is. by
its rapid rotation, evenly aud quickly dis.
tiibuted on IFS sides, the centrifugal force
causing the juice to be thown off through
the wire cloth, whose meshiags will not
allow the pulp to pass through. Water
is then sprayed upon the pulp which dis
solves and washes out the remainder Of
the juice, which is then raised to the de-
location pans which are large open ronnd
bottOmed receivers provided with steam