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 (L120 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 Baume; 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 Baume; 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.