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SPIRITS
OF
BEET-ROOT.
127
SPIRITS
OF
BEET-PtOOT.
When
wo
know
that
a
vegetable
body
has
iu
it
sac-
charum,
or
sugar,
we
must
take
that
as
sufficient
evidence
that
it
possesses
fermentable
properties;
and
of
course
there
is
a
possibility
of
drawing
spirits
from
it.
The
sugar
of
the
beet-root
is
identical
with
that
of the
cane
when
it is
refined
;
consequently,
it
is
quite
as
fine
and
as
good,
and
does
not
cost
the
farmer
much
of
an
outlay.
The
production
of
solid
sugar
in
the
beet-root,
as
all
other
vegetable
products,
is
subject
to
agricultural
chances.
Some
years
are
more
favourable
to
it
than
others
;
but
an
intelligent
manufacturer,
thoroughlj^
acquainted
with
his
art,
will
always
escape
great
losses
in
a
more
or
less
for-
tunate
way.
So
it
is,
for
instance,
that
a
manufacturer
of
beet-root
sugar,
finding
in
unfavourable
years
that
the
small
quan-
tity
of
sugar
which
the
vegetable
gives
him
would
not
defray
his
expenses
of
fabrication,
meets
with
a
precious
resource
in
submitting
it
to
distillation.
The
choice
of
the
beet-root,
either
to
make
sugar
or
produce
spirit,
is
not
more
indifi'erent
in
one
case
than
the
other.
There
exists
a
great
variety
of
them,
all
of
which
are
distin-
guished
by
the
colour
of
their
peel
and
that
3f
their
pulp.
The
white, the
yellow
beet-root,
and
that
which
is
white
inside
and
red
outside,
are
preferable
to
all
others.
Whatever
be
the
colour
of
the
root,
it
is
essential
to
ap-
propriate
it
to
the
soil,
to
cultivate
it
in
a
fit
and
proper