CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. II 



manufacturing sugar was about 105 francs the hun- 

 dred kilogrammes (say nine cents per pound). 



Chemical schools and imperial factories were estab- 

 lished, and government ordered the cultivation of 

 100,000 acres of beets. The sum of $200,000 was 

 placed in the hands of the minister of agriculture, 

 with which to encourage the production. Five hun- 

 dred licenses to manufacture w r ere given, and the in- 

 digenous sugar was exempt from duty for four years. 

 The political events of 1814 caused the failure of all 

 the beet-sugar manufacturers but one, M. Crespel 

 Delisse, who continued to work. 



In December, 1814, the impost on beet sugar was 

 fixed at forty francs the one hundred kilogrammes, 

 about three and one third cents per pound, and the 

 duty on foreign sugars at fifty per cent, advance (say 

 five cents per pound). This infused new life into the 

 industry ; manufacturers introduced great improve- 

 ments in their establishments, improving the processes 

 of rasping and pressing to such an extent that they 

 obtained seventy per cent, of juice from the beet, in 

 lieu of fifty and sixty. 



Bone black, or animal charcoal, was used in filtra- 

 tion. Machinery driven by wind and water, as well 

 as by horses and oxen, replaced the more slow and 

 costly processes of hand labor. 



The yield of sugar was from three to four per cent., 

 and of molasses about five per cent. M. Crespel De- 

 lisse claimed that he obtained five per cent, sugar and 

 4.8 molasses. The cost of manufacturing was about 

 eighty-five francs the hundred kilogrammes (say seven 

 cents per pound). From 1822 to 1830 the number 



