PROCEEDINGS OF THE POLYTECHNIC ASSOCIATION. 779 



Yield of sugar at 5.48 per cent, 54.8 tons, or 122,752 pounds, 

 leaving the net cost of a pound of sugar 4J^ cents. 



The expense for hibor at 3^ francs, or sixty-six cents, per day 

 (the average) was ninety-two cents per ton of beets worked, l)eing 

 thirty-five per cent of the cost of converting a ton of beets into 

 sugar, and 15,2 per cent of the total coft, inchiding the price paid 

 for the beets. This, if charged entirely to sugar, would make the 

 cost of labor in a pound of sugar six mills. 



Inquiry has satisfied me that the expense of manufacturing 1,000 

 kilogrammes, or 2,200 pounds, of beets into sugar in France, 

 including in the expenses taxes, interest on capital, and deprecia- 

 tion of machinery, averages from eighteen to twenty francs, or 

 $3.47 to $3.87 per ton of beets. In some cases it is as low as 

 fifteen francs, or $2.88, per ton, and in others as high as twenty- 

 two francs, or $4.25, per ton. In the case quoted above it was 

 13.75 francs, or $2.60, per ton. 



The expense for labor in the best establishments is, as a rule, 

 about twenty-five per cent of the cost of manufacturing. 



From these fiorures. which I know to be reliable, the cost of a 

 pound of sugar and the proportion due to labor are shown in the 

 following table ; labor being reckoned at sixtj^-six cents per day 

 and the cost of beets at $3.80 per ton ; yield of molasses at two 

 and one-half per cent, price $22 per ton ; pulp twenty per cent, 

 price $2.50 per ton. 



Cost of labor and total cost jJer pound of convej'ting beets into sugar. 



Manufacturing Yield. Cost of labor per Total cost per 



eost per ton pound. pound, 



of beet. 



( 6 per cent. 5 3-10 mills. 4 1-10 cents. 



$2 88 ^ 7 " 4 5-10 " 3 6-10 " 



[8 '' 4 " 3 1-10 " 



C6 " 6 4-10 " 4 6-10 " 



, 3 47 { 7 " 5 5-10 " 3 9-10 " 



1^8 " 4 7-10 " 3 4-10 " 



r6 " 7 1-10 •' 4 9-10 " 



3 87 <! 7 " 6 1-10 " 4 2-10 " 



1^8 " 5 4-10 " 3 6-10 " 



C6 " 7 9-10 " 5 2-10 " 



4 25 ^ 7 " 6 7-10 " 4 4-10 " 



1^8 " 5 9-10 " 3 9-10 " 



I know of an establishment in France where the total cost of 

 producing sugar, exclusive of interest on capital, is but thirty-six 



