STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



277 



drove the cultivation of the beet from seventeen departments. It was 

 with the utmost difficulty that this industry could be maintained in the 

 northern departments, a country where agriculture flourished, labor was 

 abundant and fuel cheap. Subsequently the improvements in agricul- 

 ture, the establishment of canals and railroads, and the consequent 

 decrease in the cost of transportation, caused this industry to be again 

 established in many localities, although the north still remains the prin- 

 cipal seat of this manufacture. 



The following table from the report of M. Dureau, shows the number 

 of factories in each department of France, and their production for the 

 years eighteen hundred and sixty-six and eighteen hundred and sixty- 

 seven :* 



Production of beet sugar in France for the years eighteen hundred and sixty-six 



and eighteen hundred and sixty-seven. 



Department. 



No. of 

 factories 



Production in 

 kilograms. 



Aisne 



Nord 



Oise 



Pas-de-Calais 



Somme 



Other departments 



• Total 



39,172.464 

 77,922,287 

 16,813,646 

 35,446,974 

 24,731.431 

 22,767,875 



216,854,677 



" In the Department of the Aisne this industry is centered, particularly 

 in the Arrondissement of St. Quentins Laon and Soissons. In the 

 Department of the Nord, the Arrondissements of Valenciennes, Lille; 

 Douai, and Cambria, contain the greatest number of manufactories, par- 

 ticularly the first two mentioned. In the Pas-de-Calais there are the 

 factories of Arras and Bethune ; in the Somme, those of Peronne and of 

 Montdidier; in the Oise, those of Compiegne and Senlis. Although the 

 amount of beet sugar manufactured has largely increased since eighteen 

 hundred and thirty-seven, the number ot factories is less, and but twenty- 

 four departments, instead of thirty-seven, as then, enjoy the benefits of 

 this industry. In the Department of the Nord alone can it be said that, 

 with but few exceptions, this industry has attained all that can be 

 attained. The manufactories are numerous throughout the whole depart- 

 ment ; each commune has three or four establishments, and in some 

 places the smoke from the chimneys of sixteen or seventeen factories can 

 be seen on the horizon." 



The following abstract from an article published during the Exhibi- 

 tion shows in a striking manner the importance which this industry has 

 attained in some of the districts of France. f 



* Rapports du Jury International, Vol. XI, p. 287. 

 f Exposition Illustree, Vol. II, p. 28. 



