THE STRONTIA PROCESS OF EXTRACTING SUGAR FROM BEETROOT MOLASSES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1936, 2 December 1884, Page 3

THE STRONTIA PROCESS OF EXTRACTING SUGAR FROM BEETROOT MOLASSES.

(THE TIME".) A correspondent writes :— " The increase of consumption of sugar in the United Kingdom during the lash ten years is immense. In 1840, it was about 200,000 tons. In ISo4 it was doubled, being equal to 400,000 tons. In 1874 it amounted to SoO.OOO tons, and in ISB2 to 1,000,000 tons. Of these quantities, in IS7O, 163,000 tons were beetioot sugar, and in 18S2, over 400,000 tons beetioot sugar, the whole of which was impoitcd from Germany, Holland, Belgium, and France. The 'value of the beetioot imported into England is now about £10.000,000 per annum. The manufacture of beetioot sugar is entiiely neglected in this country, although it has been proved that sugar beets can be grown to advantage. When the cultnation of the sugar-beet fiist assumed importance on the Continent (about 1850), an official inquiry was ordeied by the then Lord Lieutenant of [i eland, Loul Claiendon, and the lepoit was presented to Parliament in 1852. A series of tiials were made indifieient patts of Ireland with sugar-beets, the results of w Inch miy be summed up as follows :— 7B per cent of the beets gi own in* li eland, 75 percent of those gi own in England, and 70 per cent of those giown in Belgium were rich enough to be "woiked Notwithstanding this favourable repoit, nothing was done, as no capitalists took up the idea. The West Indian sugar had then the command of the market, and those engaged in the trade saw no necessity ior a change. .Since then the sugar tiade has been" revolutionized. The Continental groweis have improved the sugar-beet, and, assisted byGovernmentbounties, ha\ c ruined many of our lai gest refinei ies. An economical process has recently been discoveied in Germany tor the ieco\ery of sugar fiom beetioot molasses, or any solution of sugar, by the use of stiontia, which is the alkaline earth of which strou tia is the metallic basis. The pi ocess was secietly woiked in Germany for some years until leoently, when patents were taken out for its working by Dr Sdieibler, Professor of cheinistiy, at the Royal Agricultmal College, Berlin, and chemi-tot the Beetioot (Sugar Institu tion. By the use of this, piocess very large profit' *. <-ow being made in Germany, and ici.ueiio in difl'eient parts of tho Continent (notably Fiance and Russia), are adopting the process rapidly. A large deposit of stiontia has been proved to exist in this country. By the new process referi ed to the prospect of beet root cultivation and the tn.inuf.iotuie of sugar therefiom in t lie United Kingdom is gieatly enhanced. To piurluce one ton of beetioot sugar oii'jacie of land is inquired. The imports aie 400,000 tons of beetioot sugar per annum. The ciop of sugarbeet can be taken oveiy thice yeai.s. If, therefore, 1,200,000 ncies of suitable land could be. biought under beet cultivation, the whole of the beottoot sugar consumed in the country could be ptoduced at home. A laige piopoition, if not the whole of this land, could be obtained in Ireland. The advantages which may accrue to Ireland from the establishment of the manufacture of sugar from beetroot, appears to be. not only that it will create a new and extensive source of manufacturing employment, but that, as the material used can only be profitably obtained by means of improved agriculture, the manufactories of beet-sugar should exprcise a powerful influence on the agriculture of that country."

Professor Max Mulleh and OverTREShURK. — Professor Max Muller turned the over-pressure cry to excellent point in some remarks he made at the opening of the Girls' High School, at Leamington. Occasional over-pressure, as everyone knows, is by no means confined to public elementary schools; and wherever it exists higher up in the scale the real blame lies at the parents' door. The truth is that the doctrine of delegated responsibility is carried to such an absurd degree in this country that people have really come to believe that in sending their children off to Eton or Harrow, asking no questions, and paying all bills, they have performed the whole duty of a parent. The loss both to parent and to child that ensues— of the sense of responsibility on the one hand, of home influences on the other— ought to be patent to every one, and is almost enough to justify Professer Max Mullerin regarding it as "a national misfortune when boarding schools took the place of public day schools." The reaction, however, is already setting in (says an exchange), and the future is all with the day schools. Easily Proven.— lt is easily proven that malarial 'fevers, constipation, torpidity of the liver and kidneys, general debility, nervousness and neuralgic ailments yield readily to this great disease-conqueror, Hop Bitters. It repairs the 'ravages of disease by conv«rting the food into rich blood, and it gives new life and vigour to , the afied' aa d infirm ,alwiys. See. ./ A notice -appear* in another column stating that all cattle must be cleared off Loggw Hank