The process of making the sugar consisted in reducing the clean roots to a pulp, by means of a cylinder perforated with holes like a grater, and revolving in a trough. The pulp formed by this machinery was put into bags of hair or linen cloth, and pressed much in the same manner as that observed in making the dry barm at Paris. The liquor was collected, boiled, and after being mixed with a proportion of lime, the saccharine matter was precipitated; a solution of sulphuric acid being added, and the whole being boiled a second time, the saccharine matter became then granulated, and the sugar, when refined, of a very good quality. This manufacture is not now of much consequence, since the free admission of West India and other sugar into that country. Distillation from the beet-root has been tried; but where grain is so abundant, it supersedes the necessity of extracting spirits from this vegetable. In Hanover, although there are various tracts of heath and marshy ground, the soil produces most of the grains and fruits of Europe; even the grape is cultivated in some places for making wine. The beer of this country has been long celebrated for its excellence, and upon this article and spirits, an annual revenue of upwards of sixty thousand pounds is levied. There are few towns in the kingdom in which distillation is not carried on, while the breweries are numerous. The principal establishments are at Embeck, Gosslar, and Hanover: the latter is noted for a particular kind of beer, which is held in high estimation throughout the country. The Embeck beer was once accounted the Burton of Germany, and vended in every part of the Empire. In the fifteenth century it ranked so high, that a barrel was considered of equivalent value to a hogshead of wine, and was the favorite drink of the sovereign. One of the largest houses at Hamburgh was built for the express purpose of selling this liquor, which is still known by the name of the Eimbeckischen Haus. After all the praise that has been lavished on it, the modern beer of Great Britain is considered superior to it. A brewer previous to his commencing work, must notice the proper officer, stating the time when the malt is to be mashed, with the quantity and kind of grain to be used, also the hour when the vats are to be filled; and the duty is imposed in proportion to the quantity of grain, and the beer obtained. If the brewery is on a small scale, one shilling is charged for every bushel of wheaten malt, eight-pence for barley, and six-pence for oats: where the quantity of beer produced is large, the duty is then charged by the gallon. A distiller likewise must inform the Collector before he begins to work, and have his still guaged, at the same time leaving the head with that officer. The duty is charged according to the capacity of the still; and on each removal of the head for work, he is obliged to pay for the time it is kept, which cannot in any instance be for a shorter period than twenty-four hours, but may be for as long as he thinks proper, paying proportionally so much per day, according to the dimensions of the still, as already stated. Any infringement of those regulations is strictly punished according to law; but it is plain that these enactments are insufficient to prevent smuggling, inasmuch as a fraudulent trader may have in some concealed place, at all times, a second head for his still. These regulations are nearly similar to what were observed some years ago, in Great Britain and Ireland. The collection of the revenue is managed by a board of eleven members, some of whom are appointed by the crown, and some by the states. The subor dinate officers are six superintend nts over districts, each of whom are divided into circles, and in every circle there is a collector; subordinate to these again, are other officers, some of whom are posted at the gates of the towns and cities, and are denominated secretaries. The intelligent reader will readily perceive the regulations which follow from the appointments without further detail. It may be remarked that in Germany of late years, distilleries have increased, while breweries have decreased in the same ratio. This change, we are assured, has made no alteration in the morals of the people, as drunkenness is now less prevalent there than formerly. The improvements in distillation have advanced considerably in the German Empire, but not to the extent observable in France and Great Britain. One great cause of this is attributable to Guild and Corporation laws, which tend to retard the progress of the mechanical arts, and to depress the exercise of the inventive powers and the ingenuity of the artisan. There almost every species of industry is restricted, and different trades have different privileges. Some curi ous regulations respecting them might be selected; among others, those of brewers and distillers have not been exempted. In Luneburgh, particular houses only had a hereditary right to distil brandy, and no other persons than the twelve representatives of those families could keep a distillery.* Wine being so common and cheap, the Germans do not encourage distillation to the same extent as in other countries. What progress Temperance Societies may have made remains to be ascertained, but, if the following anecdote be authentic, it affords a curious specimen * Hodgskin's Travels in the North of Germany, vol. ii. . of the opinions entertained by some of the German divines on the subject of intemperance. In a sermon preached by one of them, he exclaimed that “intemperance consisted in passing those bounds which nature had prescribed. It was intemperance for men who were quarrelsome in their cups, ever to drink wine: to some a goblet was refreshment, to others, two caused sickness, and such were intemperate, when they drank more than one. Many enlivened society, and were kind when they had drunk four bottles, and it was not right in them to take less. Many more felt their hearts warm with gratitude to the Deity, as the generous juice circulated in their veins, when they had drunk eight bottles-with them intemperance began at the ninth. These persons he pronounced to be the peculiar favourites of heaven, and bowing to his congregation, he acknowledged with fervour, that he himself was one of those happily gifted mortals.” In the Prussian territories, the manufacture of ardent spirits has never been an object of great importance, at least in a commercial point of view, although few countries have finer grain, or are more extolled for the excellence of their ale. It was remarked by Wolfstane the Dane, when he navigated the Baltic as far as the country now called Prussia, in the eighth century, that the people there brewed no ale, because they had plenty of honey. This abun dance of honey was noted many centuries before by Pytheas, when mead was the common drink of the meanest of the people, while the rich drank mares' milk, or, perhaps, a spirituous liquor prepared from it.* In the Polish department, strong waters are made from wheat, rye, barley, pulse, and also from cider. These are drunk chiefly by the common people, and often by the higher orders, who use them after they have been rectified with anise-seed, cinnamon, or other spices. In the recent southerly territorial accessions of Prussia, the vine is in cultivation; and anise, canary, coriander, mustard, and poppyseeds, are grown for the use of distillers and others. In Prussia, as well as in many parts of Germany, a brewery, a distillery, and sometimes a public-house, are the necessary appendages of every extensive farming establishment. Potatoes are distilled to a considerable extent, and it is calculated that two bushels of them afford the same proportion of ardent spirit as one bushel of barley. Nine bushels of potatoes are usually mixed with one of malt, to draw the wort which, by distillation, produces a spirit, containing 80 per alcohol, and paying a very unpopular duty of six-pence per gallon. * Macpherson's Annals, p. 263. cent of Before it is sold to the retailers, it is reduced to 50 per cent of alcohol; and the sum paid by them is about fourteen-pence per gallon. The residuum, after the spirit is extracted, is given to cattle, and, in nutritive quality, is deemed equal to two-thirds of the value of the potatoes before the wort was extracted. The cultivators of grain complain greatly of the heavy duty imposed on the distillation of corn, but without much reason, since the tax is paid at a high degree of strength, and the spirits are supplied to the retailers at a very inferior strength. During the late protracted wars, many exertions were made, as well as experiments, by Von Thaer, to procure sugar from native plants, of which the common garden turnip was the most productive; from this plant, from beet, and other roots, sugar has been extracted of a colour, strength, and consistency equal to that of the sugar-cane. Considerable quantities of goldwasser, a spirit infused with seeds and spices, are distilled at Dantzic, and from thence sent into the interior. The supplies of grain necessary for the stills kept at work in that city and neighbourhood, are drawn from the public granaries, which are so numerous and important, that a short description of them may not prove uninteresting. The buildings which compose them, says Oddy, are so extended, that they form a separate town, and consist of ranges of from four to five stories high. They are situated upon an island formed by the river Mottlau, which runs close by the city on one side, and is met by another branch at a place called the Forestadt on the other. There are three bridges on each side of the island, at the end of streets over it, from the city to the Forestadt. In the night, all the bridges are drawn up, excepting the two at the end of the main street, across the centre of the island, communicating between the old city and the Forestadt. On this island, are all the principal ware-houses for ashes, hemp, linens, and the extensive granaries forming seventeen streets, besides the large centre one that extends the whole length of the island. To guard these warehouses, from twenty to thirty ferocious dogs of a large size are kept, amongst which are blood-hounds; these are let loose at eleven o'clock at night. To command and to keep the dogs within their districts, as well as to protect the passengers from harm, there are large, high gates at the end of each of the streets leading to the main one. No light is allowed, nor is any person suffered to live on this island. The dogs prowl about the whole night and cause great terror. It would be impossible without them to keep property secure, amongst the hordes of Poles, Jews, and others who resort to Dantzic, as no exemplary punishment would have half the effect which the dread of these dogs produces. In winter, when the water is frozen over, and when the dogs might be liable to stray, there are three keepers placed at particular avenues with whips, to drive them within their range. This brings to our recollection what Ælian tells us in his History of Animals, that a thousand large mastiffs were constantly kept at the temple of Adranus, which stood in the city of Adranum, now Adderno, and that they were taught to fawn upon such as brought presents to the temple, to conduct persons home at night, and to fall furiously upon thieves and tear them in pieces. In the Bazaar at Moscow, the property of the shopkeepers is protected at night by dogs chained to their doors. Under the arcade, a certain number of these animals are fixed to a long rope, placed from one end to the other, passing the doors of all the shops, which are locked up, and left solely under their protection.* The arsenal of Tripoli, in Africa, is guarded in like manner by immense dogs belonging to the Bashaw, kept for that purpose; but, to the disgrace of the governor, these animals are supported by the courtesans of the town, who are obliged to bring them food every day, at the expense of their own degradation. Owing to the measures adopted at Dantzic, no fire or robbery was ever known; and the expense levied on each building for these precautions is very reasonable, considering the immense property they contain. Vessels lying along side of those warehouses are not allowed to have a fire or light of any kind on board, nor is a sailor nor any other person suffered even to smoke. The corn annually received and exported from Poland, through the medium of those granaries, is computed at 730,000 tons, or 365,000 lasts. The grain stored in those warehouses is brought down the Vistula from the interior of Poland, principally by Jews, and the boats which convey it are from one to three months on the voyage. These vessels are rudely constructed, and after the cargo is disposed of, they are sold for firewood, or formed into huts for the owners until a market is obtained. In conveying grain in these boats, there is no artificial covering as a protection from the weather; it is piled in the boats so as to present sloping sides like the roof of a house, and the surface thus exposed to the damp, soon begins to vegetate and form a thick matted covering, serving all the purposes of a tarpawling, and presenting the appearance of a verdant mound of earth, around which flocks of birds are seen to hover in the fearless pursuit of food. At Elbing, as well as at Dantzic, the warehouses are guarded during the night by ferocious dogs; and since no evil consequences ensue from this mode of pro * Barrow's Excursions, p. 111. |