of Sugar in France. 425 
uniform results: thus the product of the beet-root establishments 
is circulated in commerce without opposition, and the consumer 
gives the same price for it as for that of the cane of the same 
quality. It has been said that this sugar is lighter than the 
cane sugar, and “consequently that the same quantity in bulk 
does not sweeten so much; trifling as this accusation is, I can- 
not admit it; I employ the same forms as those used at Or- 
jeans, and each furnishes a loaf exactly of the same weight as in 
the refineries of Orleans. 
For three years 1 have used at my own table no other sugar 
than that of my own manufactory; and my friends, who had no 
suspicion of it, have seldom failed to compliment me on the 
beauty and good quality of this sugar. 
I have already observed, that the sugar refined by alcohol ex- 
hales, for some time, a disagreeable smell; so that if it is sent 
to market immediately the consumer will reasonably complain of 
it; but this is no defect in the sugar, it is the fault of the pro- 
prietor, who should not offer it for sale before the smell of the 
alcohol is gone off. ‘Thus I have shown that the sugar of beet- 
root and that of the cane are strictly of the same nature, and 
that no difference can be found in them. 
As to the second question, whelher agriculture can derive any 
advantage from the establishments for extracting sugar from 
beet, 1 reply, that agriculture must unavoidably derive great ad- 
vantage from them, for whatever tends to vary the crops, and 
augment their number, is beneficial to it: in this view therefore 
the culture of the beet-root is advantageous; for besides affording 
an intermediate crop, it doubles the product of the funds, and 
does not cause the loss of a single grain of corn. The cultiva- 
tion of the beet-root also renders the soil more light, and clears 
it of weeds. The manufacture of the sugar is not less useful 
than the cultivation of the plant. First, the residuum or mare 
of the beet affords food for the horned cattle and pigs of a large 
farm for four winter months, November, December, January and 
February. Supposing France contains two hundred manufac- 
tories, each working upon ten thousand weight of beet-root daily, 
the marc or residue from them will fatten from ten to twelve thou- 
sand oxen, and from two to three thousand pigs. Secondly, these 
manufactories have the advantage of employing the horses and 
men of a farm during the dead season, and of giving work to 
others, who during these four months would otherwise be con- 
demned to idleness. Independent of the men employed in the 
cultivation of the plant, the cutting and the extraction of the 
sugar may employ from five to six thousand persons during the 
winter, supposing two hundred establishments to be at work. 
To 
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