8 CULTURE OF THE SUGAR BEET. 



would find in this root the basis of an immense industry, he urged the 

 importance of his discovery upon the Academy, hoping to see valuable 

 and practical results follow it. But he was not destined to see his hopes 

 fulfilled. His methods of work, which were at best imperfect, were of a 

 nature to succeed only in the laboratory, and the prices of colonial su- 

 gars were so low as to render competition by the products from a new 

 and untried source out of the question. 



This important discovery, therefore, remained dormant for nearly half 

 a century, when one of Margraff 's pupils, Karl Franz Achard, son of a 

 French refugee in Prussia after the revocation of the celebrated edict 

 of Nantes, and director of the Academy of Sciences of Berlin, again took 

 up the line of research started by his preceptor, and finally succeeded 

 in extracting sugar from the root on a comparatively large scale. The 

 process he employed was peculiarly his own, and gave results which 

 were at the time of an astonishing character. He announced his results 

 in 1797, publishing his mode of operation, and in the latter part of 

 1799 presented a sample of his product, with a description of his method, 

 to the Institute of France, stating that the cost of production of mus- 

 covado of good quality should not exceed six cents per pound. Achard's 

 statements were as much the subject of doubt and even of severe ridicule 

 by the people of his time as are the statements made by the Department 

 of Agriculture in relation to sugar produced at the present time from 

 sorghum and maize, and were even accepted with reserve by the mem- 

 bers of the Institute of France, notwithstanding the high repute he en- 

 joyed among his scientific confreres. The interest of the French Insti- 

 tute was so aroused, however, that a commission was appointed by that 

 body to make an examination of the work of Achard and to repeat his 

 experiments: The commission consisted of Cels, Chaptal, Darcet, Four- 

 croy, Guyton, Parmentier, Tessier, Vauquelin, and Deyeux. In their 

 report they stated that Bermond had made unsuccessful experiments in 

 the introduction of the culture of the sugar-cane in France, and the same 

 was the result with the sugar maple, for though the latter might pos- 

 sibly be grown it could never compete with the sugar-cane. Other 

 plants had been experimented with ; the turnip, carrot, parsnip, chest- 

 nut, stalks of maize, and many other plants were submitted to experi- 

 ment, but notwithstanding the assertions of certain enthusiasts it was 

 proven that none of these plants could supplant the cane, and that in 

 spite of the sugar they were presumed to contain the experiments were 

 unsuccessful. Such was the state of things when Achard made the 

 announcement of his experiments and results. 



The commission then proceed to state that they had repeated the ex- 

 periments of Margraff to determine the value of their roots, finding them 

 to contain a little over six per cent, of sugar. They applied the method 

 of Achard for extraction on a larger scale, repeated several times, and 

 succeeded in obtaining only a muscovado of very brown color and dis- 

 agreeable to the taste. This muscovado, however, was readily purified 



