CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 25 



Such is the present condition of beet-sugar manur 

 facture in Europe. More than one third of the sugar 

 there consumed is made from beets ; and the progress 

 of the industry is such, that it is perfectly clear, that 

 within a few years the importation of sugar into 

 Europe will entirely cease. 



It is the constant effort of the French sugar manu 

 facturer at the present day to induce government to 

 reduce the duties and imposts on sugar, feeling that the 

 reduction in the price consequent upon such action 

 would largely increase consumption. He does not 

 ask for protection against the manufacturers of cane su 

 gar in any part of the world ; for although the industry 

 is entirely the creation of the protective policy, yet un 

 der it so great an amount of skill has been acquired, 

 and the cost of manufacture has consequently been so 

 reduced, that he is now able to compete upon equal 

 terms with the whole world. 



In France, the impost is laid upon the sugar pro 

 duced ; in Belgium, it was formerly laid upon the juice 

 expressed from the beets ; but at present it is upon 

 the sugar, as in France ; in Germany, upon the beets ; 

 in Austria, upon the sugar produced, or upon an agreed 

 estimate of the capacity of the mill ; in Russia, upon 

 the hydraulic presses. It varies in the different coun 

 tries from forty to eighty-five dollars per ton. 



