154 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



requires that there be faithfully returned to the soil an equivalent of all 

 the Diineral elements tiiken from it in the crops. 



3. If the substeuces necessary to make this eompeusatiou can be 

 advantageously procured at home, it is bad policy to import them from 

 abroad. 



The sui>ii^(!t of introducing the manufacture of 



EEET SUGAR 



into this country is attractiiig" much attention from that class of our citi- 

 zens \Yho are studying questions related to onr national independence, 

 productively. 



The^mauufacture of sugar from beets is a modern industry, dating only 

 from the early years of the present centur}'. It was in the year 1747 that 

 Margraff, a Prussian chemist, discovered that sugar existed in an avail- 

 able form in beet-roots, and advised the cultivation of them for the pur- 

 pose of making sugar. ]S^othing more was done in the matter till 1773, 

 when Achard, under the patronage of Frederick the Great, began a series 

 of experiments to test the practicability of the project. The death of 

 Frederick, however, put a stop to the experiments before any satisfac- 

 tory results had been attained. Achard resumetl his experiments in 

 1795, in which year he cultivated GO acres of beets. In the year 1709 he 

 presented several loaves of beet-sugar to the King of Prussia, accom- 

 panying them with a report in which he states that he had been able to 

 produce a good quality of raw sugar at 65 centimes a kilogram, or 

 about 6 cents per pound ; and expreSvSes his belief that his processes 

 were susceptible of improvement that would greatly reduce the cost. 

 This report of Achard attracted the attention of the Fi-ench savants, and 

 a committee Avas appointed to investigate the subject. On this commit- 

 tee appear the names of the most distinguished chemists of France. 

 The report which they made states that Achard did not obtain more than 

 1 per cent, of sugar from the beet-roots, and under this information the 

 enterprise, for the time, appeared to die. It was, however, revived by 

 I^apoleon I, who appointed a new committee to conduct original experi- 

 ments on the subject. M. Deyeux, as chairman of this second commit- 

 tee, uiade his report in 1810, presenting with it samples of sugar equal 

 to the best cane-sugar. It is unfortunate that this report does not state 

 the per cent, of sugar obtained, nor the cost of its production ; but we 

 learn from other sources that M. Barruel about this time obtained only 

 G per cent, of juice, while the yield of sugar was only l^- per cent., and 

 the cost was about 30 cents per pound. In 1812 the blockade of France 

 iavored the beet-sugar industry, and liberal bounties were offered to 

 stimulate the new branch of business. At one time $200,000 were placed 

 in the hands of the minister of agriculture to promote the sugar produc- 

 tion. The overthrow of the Napoleon dynasty in 1814 cut o& the gov- 

 ernment bounties and threatened the entire destruction of the beet-sugar 

 business. M. Delisse appears to have been the only manufacturer in 

 France who survived this shock ; and a duty of 50 per cent, on foreign 

 sugars, which v\\as levied by the restored government, coming to his 

 relief, he was soon able to lead the business in France. M. Delisse claims 

 to have obtained 5 per cent, of sugar from his beets, at a cost of S5 francs 

 per hundred kilograms, or about 7 cents per pound. From 1820 to 

 1825, under government protection, sugar manufactories increased 

 largely, so that in the latter year one hundred establishments were 

 reported, and France produced 5,000 tons of sugar. In 183G, four hun- 

 dred and thirty-six factories were in successful operation j but in the next 



