SUGAR: THE OUTLOOK IN THE COLONIES. 133 



thus becomes an easy matter to state the proportional 

 quantities derived from these two sources for the world's 

 market. 



The following appears to be the approximate yield of 

 sugar during the last two years, leaving China and India 

 out of consideration as countries which do not export and 

 concerning whose home consumption we have no data : — 



1894-5. 1895-6. 



Beet, - - 4,792,530 tons 4,323,899 tons 



Cane, - - 3,387,461 tons 2,652,000 tons 



Total, - - 8,179,991 tons 6,975,899 tons 



(The Cuban War, together with a diminished beet crop, accounted for 

 the fall of over 1,000,000 tons in yield. The consumption was normal.) 



It is clear that the world's market is already in the 

 hands of the European beet producers ; and it is most 

 probable that during the next year or two the produc- 

 tion of beet will be considerably increased, while there 

 seems to be small hope of the extension of cane-growing 

 because of the maimed condition of Cuba, the principal 

 contributor. 



The beetroot as a sugar-producing plant has a compara- 

 tively recent history, whereas the sugar-cane has been culti- 

 vated from time immemorial. The rapid increase of the 

 beet industry may be gauged by the following facts. In 

 1747 Andreas Sigismund Marggraf, a professor in Berlin, 

 made the important discovery that the sugars in beetroots, 

 carrots and other fleshy roots of temperate countries were 

 chemically identical with one another and with that of the 

 sugar-cane ; the sugar of ripe fruits, such as the grape, and 

 that in honey being placed in a different class. This dis- 

 covery did not however bear immediate fruit, and the first 

 beet factory was not erected till 1801, near Breslau, in 

 Silesia. 



From the imperfect nature of the processes of extraction, 

 and the great difficulty in eliminating the impurities from 

 beet juice, it is more than likely that the enterprise would 

 have died in its infancy. At this point, however, as has so 



