SUGAR AND THE SUGAR BEET. 157 



SUGAR AND THE SUGAR BEET. 



By JOHN WADDELL, D.Sc, Ph.D. 



SCHOOL OF MINING, KINGSTON, ONTARIO. 



THE total production of sugar in the world is between seven and 

 eight million tons yearly; in 1898-99 it was 7,839,000 tons. Of 

 this amount about three eighths is obtained from sugar cane and five 

 eighths from beets. 



The United States in 1898 consumed 2,017,444 tons of sugar, each 

 ton being 2,240 pounds. This was an average of sixty-one pounds for 

 every man, woman and child in the country. In 1897 the consumption 

 was nearly sixty-four pounds per head, and this figure is approximately 

 the average for the last ten years, the average for the preceding decade 

 being ten or twelve pounds less. 



The United States consumes much more sugar per head than is con- 

 sumed in Europe. In 1895, when the consumption in the United 

 States was 62.60 pounds per capita, the consumption in Europe was 

 25.64 pounds per capita. The consumption in nearly all the countries 

 of Europe is very low, and the average would be very much lower if 

 England were left out of account. In England it is far in advance 

 even of that of the United States, being 86.09 pounds in 1894-95, when 

 Denmark, which in Europe stands next to England, consumed 44.66 

 pounds, that is, only slightly more than half as much. The great 

 consumption in England is largely due to the amount of jams and 

 confectionery manufactured, much of which is exported. Germany 

 exports large quantities of sugar to England and imports confectionery. 

 This is due to the special bounty arrangements in Germany. The 

 government does not bonus the production of sugar, but taxes it. It 

 however gives a rebate on the sugar exported, in such a way as to con- 

 stitute a bounty. An excise duty is placed upon beets used in the manu- 

 facture of sugar. On any sugar exported a drawback is allowed. The law 

 passed in 1869 assumed that beets contain eight per cent, of sugar, so 

 that the manufacturer would get as much drawback from the govern- 

 ment if he exported eight tons of sugar as he had paid on one hundred 

 tons of beets. But owing, on the one hand, to improved cultivation of 

 the beet, and, on the other hand, to improved methods of extraction, 

 instead of twelve and one half tons of beets being necessary for the 

 production of one ton of sugar, less than eleven tons were required in 

 1877, and in 1898 only seven tons. Now, therefore, the German manu- 



