792 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



banks of the Mississippi. As to the competition of Cuban and 

 Brazillian sugars, thoy have no more cause to fear it than have the 

 beet-sugar makers of France and Germany, where the economical 

 conditions are far less favora1)]e than those of the Northern and 

 Western States." 



The beet-sugar industry has been of vast benefit to Europe. 

 Notwithstanding the high protective policy to which it owes its 

 existence, and which, as a matter of course, was pursued for a 

 time at the expcjnse of the public, Avhich paid higher for sugar 

 than it would otherwise have done, yet there is no question that 

 sugars have been cheaper throughout the world for the past fifteen 

 years than they would have been had the industry not existed. 



Formerly the production of sugar was a monopoly confined to 

 the tropics, where its possession, combined with the cheapness of 

 land and the system of slavery, fostered in planters and manufac- 

 turers an extravagant, shiftless, and costly method of manufacture. 



The vast improvements that science has brought to bear on the 

 chemistry and mechanics of beet-sugar production in Europe have 

 awakened the planters and manufacturers of the tropics to the 

 necessity for progress, if they desire to retain their supremacy. 



Almost all the improvements made in cane-sugar manufacture 

 in the last fifteen years, owe their origin to the beet-sugar estab- 

 lishments of France and Germany. 



The effects produced upon agriculture in Europe by the cultiva- 

 tion of beets for sugar and alcohol have been astounding, and the 

 importance of the interest is now everywhere acknowledged. 



In the cane-sugar countries upon the territory surrounding a 

 a sugar establishment no ci'op is to be seen but the cane, while cat- 

 tle and sheep are few. In the sugar districts of Europe, on the 

 contrary, the fields in the vicinity of a sugar manufactory are covered 

 with the greatest diversity of crops, among which are beets, wheat, 

 rye, oats, barley, corn, rape, flax, tobacco, and all the cultivated 

 grasses. Every field is cultivated close up to the road-side, and 

 the stables are filled with fine cattle, sheep, horses and swine. 



No farmer needs to be told which system is the best and most 

 enduring. 



M. Dureau, author of several valuable works on beet sugar, and 

 also the editor of the "Journal des Fabricants de Sucre" says, 

 "The cultivation of the licet is getting to be highly popular. 



"The president of an agricultural society, is sure to gain all 

 hearts when he talks about beets. No agricultural newspaper can 



