CULTURE OF THE SUGAR BEET. 



161 



as stated before, a certain quantity of juice having a given density must 

 yield a given quantity of sugar, and the manufacturer is taxed for this 

 minimum yield determined by the examination of the juices. All prod- 

 ucts of the factory are taken in charge by the officer and stored in a 

 warehouse, the key of "which is in his possession, and the sugar is kept 

 here until disposed of for refining or for other purposes. The tax, 73.50 

 francs per 100 kdograms, is finally levied upon the quantity he takes in 

 charge. 



The amounts of taxes realized by the government of France on su- 

 gars from all sources during the years 1877 and 1878 were as follows : 



Kinds of sugars. 



Import duty on colonial sugars 



Import duty on foreign sugars 



Duty on manufacture of indigenous sugars 



Total 



$7, 540, 800 



6, 886, 000 



22, 088, 400 



3G, 515, 200 



1877. 



$6, 768, 761 



8, 642, 000 

 17, 035, 600 



32, 446, 300 



CHAPTEE IX. 



CONCLUSION— IMPORTANCE OF SUGAR-BEET CULTURE. 



In France the universal importance of the influence of the culture of the 

 sugar-beet was rather slow in being acknowledged by those accustomed 

 to write on the subject, but once it became thoroughly manifest, it was 

 earnestly accepted, and the introduction of the crop in the systems of 

 rotation rapidly took hold in all sections in 'which it could be made suc- 

 cessful. The value of the culture in the amelioration of the soil was 

 recognized by Dubrunfaut as early as 1823, "when he said: 



The beet as a biennial plant enters readily into rotation with annnal plants and 

 with those considered as exhausting. It precedes wheat with great advantage and 

 prepares the soil in a marvellous manner for crops of cereals. 



In 1853, Prince Xapoleon Louis Bonaparte, after a study of the sub- 

 ject, said : 



The beet requiring frequent hand-hoeing and considerable fertilizing improves the 

 soil. It is a fact that wheat sown after a crop of beets produces 10 per cent, more 

 than after any other culture. In fact, everywhere that the beet is grown the selling 

 value of the land has considerably increased, the wages of workmen have followed 

 the same ascending progression, and the general welfare has improved in a wonderful 

 manner. 



Behic, reporting to the council of state on a draught of a law concern- 

 ing sugars in 1850, said : 



Metropolitan agriculture and industry are interested in the production of sugar from 

 beets. By the aid of this industry cattle-raising is encouraged, rotations favored, the 

 mass of manures augmented in countries where this kind of work has been estab- 

 lished ; the culture of oleaginous seeds, hemp and flax, being crushed out by the beet, 

 has all tended to enrich localities which had previously known only the culture of 

 vulgar plants. 



11 SB 



