48 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 



February. With us, by reason of a more favorable 

 climate, not only for the earlier development, but also 

 for the better preservation of the beet, it could be ex- 

 tended from September to March, or even later. It 

 will be acknowledged that these are the months in 

 which labor in this country can be most readily and 

 reasonably procured. The probability is, inasmuch 

 as the establishment of this industry in Illinois would 

 permit the hiring of men by the year, that the price 

 of labor per day would average considerably less than 

 it does at present in the summer time, which, in the 

 region I have selected, is about one dollar and fifty 

 cents per day for a first-rate hand. 



One of the first merchants and manufacturers of 

 France told me, that with wages at three and a half 

 francs per day, the value of labor in a hundred kilo- 

 grammes of sugar should not exceed four to four and 

 a half francs. That is, with wages at sixty-six cents 

 per day, the cost of labor should be less than four 

 mills per pound. 



By the preceding tables the cost of labor at sixty- 

 six cents per day varies in a pound of sugar from four 

 to seven and one tenth mills in France. The average 

 is not far from 5 T 8 ^ mills per pound. 



If the same amount of labor be required here as the 

 average of France, and its value be three times greater, 

 or two dollars per day, then the average cost of a 

 pound of sugar from beets yielding seven per cent., 

 will be five and one fourth, instead of four cents, per 

 pound. 



I herewith present a table showing the results that 

 I have no doubt can be attained in Illinois by a com- 



