CROPS. 487 



labor, and without even the smallest expense or hazard to human 

 life or comfort, it is impossible to exaggerate the value of this 

 great arid increasing product. 



A highly-distinguished agriculturist in France, perhaps as 

 competent as any man to speak on this subject, has recently 

 given to the public a. statement in regard to it, which must 

 attract particular attention. I shall give his statement nearly in 

 his own words. An hectare (about two and a half acres) pro 

 duces in the Isle of Bourbon about 76,000 kilograms (a kilo 

 gram is about two pounds and a fifth of a pound) of cane. 

 which will give 2200 kilograms of sugar, and which costs in 

 labor 2500 francs. An hectare of beet-root produces 40.000 

 kilograms of roots, which will produce 2400 kilograms of sugar. 

 and the expense of the culture of which costs 354 francs. The 

 cost of the cane-sugar in this case is twenty-seven centimes, and 

 of the beet-sugar fourteen centimes only, per kilogram.* These 

 are extraordinary statements, and will be looked at by the 

 political economist and the philanthropist with great interest. 

 There are few of the northern states of Europe, or of the United 

 States, which might not produce their own sugar; and when we 

 take into account the value of this product, even in its remains 

 after the sugar is extracted, for the fatting of cattle and sheep, 

 and of course for the enrichment of the land for succeeding 

 crops, its important bearing upon agricultural improvement can 

 not be exaggerated. 



The production of beet-sugar is not by any means confined 

 to France. Large amounts are produced in Belgium, where I 

 found most extensive manufactories, and in several parts of 

 Germany ; but in none of these countries is industry in any 

 form unrestricted ; and a man hardly dares to be successful in 

 any enterprise, at least to proclaim his success, lest the govern 

 ment, by some impost or taxation, should endeavor to avail itself 



* &quot; According to M. Peligot, the average amount of sugar in beets is twelve 

 per cent. ; but by extraction they obtain only about five per cent. The cane 

 contains about eighteen per cent, of saccharine matter, but they get only about 

 seven and a half. The expense of cultivating an hectare of beets, according to 

 Dombasle, is 354 francs. An hectare of cane, which produces 2200 kilograms 

 of sugar in the Isle of Bourbon, and only 2000 in French Guiana, demands the 

 labor of twelve negroes, the annual expense of each of whom is 250 francs 

 according to M. Labran.&quot; Commission of Inquiry in 1840. 



