752 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



cold northerly zone of Europe, could be raised with profit for the 

 production of sugar, and of being the pioneer in the art, by erect- 

 ing in the year 1796 the first large establishment for the produc- 

 tion of beet sugar, situated in the couuty of Cuneva, in Silesia. 

 In 1799 and 1812, he published his first complete treatise on beet 

 sugar, which Avas so precise, distinct and plain, and moreover was 

 treated in such a thorou2:h practical manner, that it aroused the 

 attention of the English sugar merchants, and caused them to 

 make him the generous ofier of 50,000 Prussian thalers, on condi- 

 tion that he would discontinue his experiments with beet sugar, 

 and so kill this industry at its birth. Nobly refusing this offer, 

 the sum was subsequently quadrupled, in the hopes of inducing 

 him to publish another work setting forth that his enthusiasm for 

 the beet sugar manufacture had carried him too far, and that 

 experiments on a large scale had not realized his expectations. 

 This off'er was also declined. The English merchants had now 

 become thoroughly alarmed at the progress the new manufiic- 

 ture was making on the continent, and made one last effort to 

 crush it, by engaging Sir Humphrey Davy to Avrite a work in 

 which he sought to prove that beet sugar was bitter. But even this 

 very learned treatise was of no avail, for all over Europe beet sugar 

 was consumed, and its bitterness v/as pronounced to exist only in 

 England. Napoleon's continental blockade, at the beginning of 

 the present ceutur}*, stimulated, the new industry; and though the 

 enterprise was encouraged by all the crowned heads of Europe, 

 yet the main practical and successful aid was given by Napoleon 

 I,, to whom belono-s the honor of beino; the second founder of the 

 beet sugar industry. 



The discussion of the beet sugar manufacture should be pre- 

 ceded by that of the beet itself, and its cultivation. The sugar 

 beet cultivated in Europe, is known under several varieties, the 

 favorite one being the Silesian. A cross section of this beet 

 exhibits a white dense structure, in a few of its varieties, having 

 concentric rose-colored rings about three eighths of an inch wide. 

 Its juice has a concentration of 8° to 9° B, and contains but a 

 small proportion of hnpurities. A second variety of beet is the 

 Burgundy, Avhich grows out of the ground, has a loose porous tex- 

 ture, a great deal of highly diluted juice, and on this account is 

 undesirable for the production of sugar. The properties of a 

 good beet are the following: uniform shape, and if possible with- 

 out branchings or forks, as these are likely to retain impurities 



