312 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



paved with the previous year these figures show a ile- 

 cline of 736 horses, 11,944 cattle, and 1,304 calves; 

 in sheep aud pigs there was a small increase. The 

 other animal products imported from Denmark iu 

 1858 were 55,289 barrels of butter, 3,232,633 lbs. of 

 meat, 3,036,428 lbs. pork, 8,156,935 lbs. of hams, and 

 3,546,745 lbs. of wool. 



There are twenty-one oil-mills in Denmark. The 

 production annually of linseed and rape oil is about 

 3^000 tons, of linseed and rape cake 6,600 tons. This 

 manufacture has largely increased. A free trade exists 

 with regard to the produce of agriculture and cattle. 



By the projected tariflf it is proposed that the export 

 duty on the following articles is to be entirely aban- 

 doned: Rags, skins, and hides of large cattle, dry, 

 wet, or salted; undressed skins of goats, sheep, calves, 

 and lambs, dry, wet, or salted; hare's and rabbit 

 skins and wool. The manufactures of the country are 

 unimportant. A considerable increase has taken place 

 of late years in the distillation of corn brandy. The 

 produce in 1857 amounted to 47,000,000 quarts. It 

 is taxed about Id. per quart. Besides the home-con- 

 sumption, great quantities are exported, especially to 

 Sweden and Norway, and calling ships. 



THE PRODUCTION OF BEETROOT SUGAR ON THE CONTINENT. 



The cultivation of the beetroot on the Continent for 

 the manufacture of sugar, which has been so long pro- 

 secuted under many disadvantages, would at length 

 seem to have reached a culminating point. It is now 

 being abandoned in many quarters as unremunerative. 



The history and progress of beet-sugar manufacture 

 is a curious and intef esting one. The cultivation is first 

 noticed by historians in France in the time of Henri 

 Quatre. It was then recommended as food for cattle 

 by one Olivier de Serres, in 1747. Attention was called 

 to the possibility of making sugar from beet ; and under 

 Chaptal the manufacture sprung up in France. Achard 

 improved on his method, and announced that he could 

 produce a good coarse brown sugar at something like 

 2|d. per lb. ; at the same time he found that the pulp 

 that remained was excellent food for cattle. The sub- 

 ject attracted great attention in France. The French 

 Institute took it up, and two small factories were es- 

 tablished. Those were not successful; the popular 

 prejudice was against them, though their success would 

 have freed France from the monopoly in colonial pro- 

 duce then enjoyed by the British colonies. Thus no- 

 thing very important seemed likely to result from the 

 firtt experiments, until Napoleon passed his celebrated 

 decree, striking at the commerce of England. Amongst 

 other things, British colonial sugar was almost prohi- 

 bited by an enormous import duty, and the price of 

 sugar rose in proportion. Universal was the attention 

 then bestowed on the hitherto ridiculed cultivation of 

 beet, and the manufacture of sugar from it. The first 

 loaf of sugar thus produced is said to have cost £1,600. 

 And again the caricaturists ridiculed the idea : George 

 III. was represented sweetening his coffee from a barrel 

 of West India sugar, while Napoleon was squeezing a 

 beetroot into his cup with very limited success. Gra- 

 dually the art was improved, and several men made 

 fortunes by their success in the manufacture. Iu a 

 short time no less than 150 factories were built. In 

 1812 the art of discolouring the syrup was discovered. 

 This, effected by means of ivory black, or burnt 

 bones, was the great turning point in the history 

 of beet sugar ; improvements in other parts of the 

 manufacture soon followed, and in 1814 it might be 



said to have assumed a very permanent and important 

 character. Then followed the gcnei'al peace in 1815, 

 and colonial sugar again came into competition with 

 it, and nearly three-fourths of the factories fell beneath 

 the shock. Notwithstanding this, however, so valuable 

 was the trade, and so well established had it become, 

 that, much to the surprise of even its best friends, it 

 gradually improved again, so that in 1819 there were 

 again 100 factories at work. In 1828 the quantity pro- 

 duced by 100 factories was 5,000,000 kilogrammes of 

 sugar, equal to 5,580 tons English. In 1838, 575 fac- 

 tories in France produced 40,000,000 kilogrammes; 

 then it was considered able to bear a duty, and this 

 duty was gradually raised, till in 1845 the duty on 

 beet sugar equalled that on colonial. Again the ma- 

 nufacture suffered, one half the factories were ruined, 

 but the vitality of the trade proved its safety. Again it 

 rallied, until in 1849 303 factories produced 61,826,626 

 kilogrammes, or 69,000 tons of sugar per annum. 



From France the culture of the beet spread through 

 Belgium, Germany, Poland, and far into the interior 

 of Russia. 



In 1858 the quantity of sugar was about 2,250,000 

 cwt., and the quantity of beetroot used 37,000,000 cwt. 

 The duty on beetroot was originally fixed at the low 

 rate of ]| groschen (about Old.) per lOOlbs., but has 

 gradually been increased to 7 J groschen, or rather 

 more than 2d. In Germany the cultivation of the 

 beetroot, and its manufacture into sugar, are princi- 

 pally carried on in the neighboui'hoods of Magdeburg, 

 Halforstadt, and Breslau in Prussia ; in the Duchies of 

 Brunswick and the Anholts, and in the Duchy of 

 Baden. The exceeding weight of the raw material 

 precludes its being transported profitably to any 

 distance from the place of production. 



In the Duchy of Baden there were last year five 

 manufactories. The root is sold to them at 30kreutzers 

 per quintal; and if to this is added the 26| kreutzers 

 tax paid for each quintal, the manufacturer pays from 

 54 to 56 kreutzcrs (about Is. 6d.) per cwt. for the raw 

 material. In the winter of 1858-59 not less than 

 1,000,000 quintals of beetroot were consumed in the 

 manufacture of sugar, for which the exchequer received 



