SUGAR AND THE SUGAR BEET. 159 



1836, or thereabouts, France was the leading producer of beet sugar. 

 Though Margraf had been able on a small scale by using alcohol to 

 obtain from four to six per cent, of sugar, at first only two or three per 

 cent, was extracted by the factory processes, ■ but owing to improve- 

 ments introduced in its manufacture as well as to the cultivation of 

 beets with greater sugar content, five or six per cent, of sugar was 

 obtained in the early thirties. 



Schatten's invention of a saccharometer for estimating the amount 

 of sugar in beets, and of several very important processes, revived the 

 industry in Germany and placed that country in the van, which position 

 it has held ever since. The growth of late years is shown by the fact 

 that whereas in 1877-78 4,090,968 tons of beets passed through the 

 factories, in 1898-99 the amount was 12,144,291 tons or 2.97 times as 

 much. The amount of raw sugar produced in the same time increased 

 from 378,009 tons to 1,710,000 tons or 4.52 times as much. It will be 

 noticed that the increase in sugar produced is much more than the 

 increase in beets treated. This is because of the greater amount of 

 sugar extracted. Whereas in 1877, one ton of sugar required 10.82 

 tons of beets, in 1899 one ton of sugar required only 7.01 tons of 

 beets. In other words, in 1899 three tons of sugar were made from the 

 same weight of beets as in 1877 yielded but two tons. 



Hardly had France and Germany succeeded in establishing the 

 beet sugar industry before the United States made some experiments 

 in the same direction. In 1840 a factory was located in Connecticut. 

 It did not prove successful. Later other efforts were made, but with 

 no better success. Among the causes of failure were careless methods 

 of beet culture and very inadequate methods in the factory. It was 

 even thought by many that simple apparatus, like that used in making 

 maple sugar, was sufficient ; moreover, the early factories were located in 

 places that were not suitable. The first factory that had any appre- 

 ciable success was at Alvarado in California. It was built in 1870 ; the 

 company failed in 1876, but was reorganized in 1879, and the factory 

 has been in operation ever since. 



The Department of Agriculture under the federal government for a 

 number of years carried on investigations and published reports and 

 reviews, but its work was suspended in 1893. In 1897, however, it was 

 resumed with renewed and increased vigor, and since then the govern- 

 ment has taken great interest in the matter. It has distributed seed in 

 a large number if not all the states and has sent out instructions to 

 farmers who accepted seed for experiment. The Department of Chem- 

 istry has made analyses of thousands of samples of beets, and investi- 

 gations have been made upon the influences of soil, temperature, 

 rainfall and other conditions upon the growth of the beet, its sugar 

 content and the purity of the sugar. In 1898 over twenty thousand 



