Develojpment of the Beet-Sugar Industry 11 



The early work of Achard was encouraged by financial 

 assistance from Frederick the Great, but after his death 

 in 1786 the work was somewhat interrupted until his 

 successor, Frederick William III, came to the rescue. 

 Through the aid of the latter, the first beet-sugar factory 

 in the world was built on Cunern Estate, near Steinau 

 in Silesia, in 1799-1801. In 1802 a factory was built 

 near Paris for experimental purposes. These first fac- 

 tories experienced many difficulties in purifying the 

 sugar. This, together with the low sugar-content of the 

 beets, discouraged all but the most enthusiastic. 



Assistance from Napoleon. 



The establishing of the beet-sugar industry on a pay- 

 ing basis really came as an incident in the wars of Napo- 

 leon. As a measure against England he established in 

 1806 a blockade in which any merchandise from England 

 and her colonies was not allowed on the continent. This 

 cut off the chief source of sugar ; as a result the average 

 price from 1807 to 1815 was thirty cents a pound. At 

 times it went much higher than this. In 1806 the French 

 Government offered a bounty on beet-sugar, but it was 

 not until 1811, near Lille, that the first commercial fac- 

 tory in France was established. 



On January 12, 1812, Napoleon issued a decree pro- 

 viding that one hundred select students should be sent 

 from schools of medicine, pharmacy, and chemistry to 

 the six special beet-sugar schools that he had established 

 the year before. He also set aside large tracts of land to 

 be devoted to beet-raising and compelled the peasant 

 farmers to plant sugar-beets. The decrees of Napoleon 



