BEET SUGAR. 81 



The great sugar producing plants of the world are, in their 

 order, sugar-cane ( Arundo saccharifera) , the beet ( Beta vulgaris ), 

 the date-palm ( Phenix sylveslrin), and the sugar-maple {Acer 

 saccharinum ). According to statistics of a few years ago, which 

 no doubt still hold good in ratio, the total production annually 

 of sugar from these plants is about in the following proportion : 



Sugar-cane 71 .42 per cent. 



Beet 22 50 



Palm 5.00 



Maple 1.08 



II 



100.00 



It will thus be seen the beet furnishes nearly one-quarter of the 

 sugar produced in the world. 



France and the German States are the great beet sugar pro- 

 ducing countries of the globe, their production being nearly, if 

 not quite, equal to their consumption. Tliere are over 2,000 beet 

 sugar manufactories in Europe, of which France has over 600. 

 The German States and Russia include the bulk of the remainder. 



Several attempts to manufacture beet sugar on a small scale 

 have been made in the United States, but if California be ex- 

 cepted, and perhaps some trials in Illinois, I am not aware that 

 they have been crowned with commercial success, although they 

 have proved that the best quality of sugar can be made from the 

 beet. As long ago as 1839, the "Northhampton Beet Sugar 

 Company," located in the rich tobacco growing soil of the Con- 

 necticut valley, proved this beyond a doubt. But it was not a 

 financial success. They manufactured sugar of an excellent 

 quality, 100 lbs. of beets producing seven pounds of sugar and 

 three and one-half pounds of molasses. In 1864 the " Germania 

 Sugar Company " commenced operations in Illinois, but I do not 

 learn they were so successful as to make the enterprise a perma- 

 nent one. They cultivated 600 acres of beets in one season which 

 produced from 8 to 9 per cent, of sugar. 



The beet plant adapts itself very readily to climate and circum- 

 stances, although a first-class soil is absolutely indiispensable to 

 its successful cultivation. The deep, rich, argentiferous soils of 

 California are no doubt the best adapted to its production of any 

 in this country, and the black, greasy, prairie soils of the western 

 States, come next. Whether the farmers of Maine can compete 



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