68 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 



alone in the north of France that it is pursued ; but it 

 has penetrated into the east, the west, and the south, 

 into Germany, Russia, Italy, Austria, Spain every- 

 where." 



Another says, that " everywhere the beet is culti- 

 vated in France, land advances in value, and the 

 wages of workmen take the same direction." 



" All Europe, though France has contributed the 

 largest and most glorious part towards the accom- 

 plishment of the result, is destined to become a great 

 sugar-producing country, not less important than those 

 where they cultivate the cane, which many believed to 

 be the only plant suitable for the production of sugar, 

 that precious food, of which people of the present age 

 are such large consumers. Why should not sugar, 

 which the mysterious forces of nature have secreted in 

 the beet, be extracted from it, and the soil, prepared for 

 new harvests, and rendered doubly fertile by the thor- 

 ough cultivation it demands, furnish increasing quan- 

 tities of food for man, and for beast? It is the triumph 

 of industry." 



L'Echo Agricole says, that " all farmers who ob- 

 tain first prizes at the agricultural exhibitions are 

 either sugar manufacturers, distillers, or cultivators of 

 the beet. Those who have adopted this branch of 

 agriculture, either as proprietors or tenants, have really 

 obtained astonishing results. They would be surprised 

 if they did not carry off all the first prizes at the pub- 

 lic exhibitions, and were consequently mentioned in 

 the official reports of the government." 



M. Vallerand, who took the first prize in the De- 

 partment of Aisne, bought, in 1853, a farm of eight 



