354 CHYMISTRY APPLIED TO AGRICULTURE. 



in the operations, or negligence in the preservation of the 

 roots, must occasion some losses in an undertaking, which, 

 even at the low price at which I have estimated sugar, 

 promises sufficient remuneration in the hands of an intelli- 

 gent man. 



SECTION VII. 

 General Considerations. 



From twelve years' experience I have learned, in the 

 first place, that the sugar extracted from beets differs from 

 that of the sugar-cane neither in color, taste, nor crystal- 

 lization ; and, in the second place, that the manufacture 

 of this kind of sugar can compete advantageously with that 

 of the sugar-cane, when the price of this last is in com- 

 merce one franc and twenty centimes per demi-kilogramrae 

 (=r 18^ cents per pound.*) 



These facts being established and acknowledged, it may 

 be asked whether the manufacture of beet sugar would be 

 advantageous to agriculture. 



The cultivation of beets will not prevent the production 

 of a single kernel of wheat, since this may be made an in- 

 termediate crop, and the sowing of it commenced as soon 

 as the beets shall be dug. The crops of corn are better 

 upon these lands than upon others, because the beets have 

 divided and loosened the earth, and the weedings have 

 cleared it of strange plants. 



* It is objected, that beet sugar of bad quality is thrown into the mar- 

 ket. I do not contradict the fact ; but it only proves that the sugar 

 was badly made. During ten years, the sugar from my manufactory 

 has been sold at the same price as that from the sugar-cane of the 

 same degree of refinement ; and not the slightest difference between 

 the two has ever been perceived. 



It is said, that the greater part of the establishments of this kind 

 have been given up, after having occasioned loss to the proprietors. 

 This, also, is a fact which 1 shall not dispute. But I must remark, 

 that this new branch of industry, like all others, requires some knowl- 

 edge and apprenticeship. It needs to be conducted by men accus- 

 tomed to similar operations ; and it is not at all surprising, that these 

 have not been everywhere found. 



It is impossible to mention any kind of manufacture amongst those 

 that have succeeded, where perfection has been attained at once. 



