Cuban Cane Sugar 



sugar which might be grown in 

 France. In his search he learned 

 that sugar could be produced from 

 grapes and from beetroots, but he 

 did not confine himself to these, 

 experimenting meanwhile with ap- 

 ples, pears, plums, quinces, mul- 

 berries, chestnuts, figs, sorghum, 

 field corn, and the saps of several 

 trees. 



Nearly sixty years previously, 

 Marggraf , in Berlin, had shown that 

 various kinds of beetroot contained 

 sugar which could successfully be 

 crystallized out. Forty years later 

 Achard, a Frenchman, experimented 

 with different varieties of beetroot; 

 and, when his results became known, 

 Frederick Wilhelm III, King of 

 Prussia, started experimentation on 

 a large scale and contributed to- 

 ward the erection of several sugar 

 factories, at the same time offering 

 bounties to farmers who produced 

 [40] 



