13 Agricultural Cuba 



CANE VS. BEET 



The Bengalese of India are responsible for the 

 discovery of cane sugar, which discovery was 

 made in the third or fourth century, A. D. 



From the fifth century on, this discovery 

 spread into Arabia, Egypt, Spain, Portugal, 

 The Canary Islands, Brazil and Cuba, and 

 thence around the world. 



The making of sugar from beets we owe to 

 Napoleon Bonaparte. 



In 1804-5 the business affairs of Europe were 

 in much the same tangle as they are in war times 

 of today. 



When Nelson destroyed the French fleet off 

 Trafalgar and England became mistress of the 

 seas, she shut off forever Napoleon's intention 

 of invading the British Isles. At that time 

 Napoleon devised what was known as the **Con- 

 tinental System" which dealt a disastrous blow 

 to the cane sugar industry. 



He tried to isolate England by forbidding 

 commercial communication between England and 

 the entire continent of Europe, with the result 

 that the importation of sugar was completely 

 shut off. 



Meanwhile the lack of sugar became an im- 

 portant war time problem which required vigor- 

 ous action. He discovered that sugar could be 

 produced from grapes and from beet roots, and 

 also experimented with other fruits for the pro- 

 duction of this national necessity. 



After a number of costly experiments had been 

 directed toward the production of grape sugar, 

 with poor results, Napoleon, in 181 1, ordered 



