10 



were generally considered, on certain subjects, as without 

 appeal,* this precious discovery would have been lost to 

 the present generation, and might have remained dormant 

 for ages, under a persuasion that the manufactureof Su- 

 gar from the beet had been fairly tested and clearly prov- 

 ed to be impracticable as a profitable undertaking : But 

 the courage of these pioneers of the cause was invincible — 

 they have won and fairly wear the Palm. 



As the manufacture of beet root sugar must shortly 

 excite a degree of interest in our enlightened country pro- 

 portionate to its real merits, the present state of this new 

 branch of industry in France, now the school to which 

 other nations resort for instruction in it, becomes impor- 

 tant ; and in this little essay I shall make free use of its au- 

 thors for our benefit : In that kingdom, success is no 

 longer problematical, it is already attained ; and should it 

 stop where it is, which cannot reasonably be supposed, 

 that Kingdom can now supply all the demands of her vast 

 population with indigenous sugar as cheap, and ere long 

 cheaper than it can be supplied by her own colonies, — 

 leaving a great profit to the manufacturer. So thorough- 

 ly are the .colonies impressed with this important and 

 alarming truth, that they have called on the mother coun- 

 try for protection against this formidable Monster, the sub- 

 ject of their unceasing ridicule whilst in its cradle. A 

 serious deficit in the Treasury induced by diminished im- 



♦ Sir Humphry Davy says in his Treatise on Agricultural Chem- 

 istry, " The Beet Root gives by ebullition and evaporation of its ex- 

 tract, ^particular sort of S^igar, of which the general properties 

 seem to be analogous to those of the Sugar of Grapes, with the ex- 

 ception that it is rather bitter." It is difficult to conceive, says De 

 Domballe, how this eminent Chymist could be ignorant that the Su- 

 gar of Beets is identic with that of the Cane. 



