VOL. XV. NO. 1. 



AND GA RD ENER'S .JOURNAL 



One thing is certain, all tin; Continent is jji-epar- 

 ing to make Sugar from tlio liect, and from liunce 

 to Belgium the country is covered with it and 

 Sugar-houses ; in many placets between Valen- 

 ciennes and this, I counted six or eight of these 

 large buildings together, and at one place there 

 were actually twenty in sight at one time ! This 

 says something — what is it ? 



At Valenciennes, a gentleman is erecting an 

 immensely large building as a Refinery for Beet 

 Sugar — he will refine two millions of pounds a 

 year ; he politely showed me the works, and in- 

 vited me to visit him again, when all is in opera- 

 tion, which I intend to do, as this part of the busi- 

 ness may eventually be of importance to us. There 

 are many very large Sugar-hnnses near Lisle, 

 which I am to see after 1 have finished here ; they 

 vvill not then be crushing, hut working up Mo- 

 lasses. I can then see their machinery, which is 

 ahiiost different in every manufactory which I 

 visit, especially the arrangement. 



Tuesday, 5tli < f April. — I have now spent a 

 long day at Mr C's. noble manufactory. Indeed 

 I know not how to express what I feel. — One 

 thing is quite certain, the manufacture will soon 

 be planted in America by some one, and be fol- 

 lowed up by hundreds. 



The land must be healthy, not a wet subsoil, 

 for if it be so, although it might f>roduce the finest 

 crops, they would decay during the winter to a 

 certainty. 



My friend — he of the small manufactory — 

 %vill enable me to do all that is necessary for our 

 farmers, but they must not expect to work atsuch 

 a profit as is done by the improved machinery. 

 But I find, after all, 1 must purchase the Drill. I 

 have s[)ent some time to day examining its parts, 

 and the more 1 see the more am I satisfied it 

 would not be in my power to do justice by a 

 model either to it, to myself, or to the land of my 

 adoption. It is to be taken to pieces and ])acked 

 more snugly ; but whatever be the cost or the la- 

 bor, I am willing to deRit it with the whole with 

 no fear for the result: you will see it is cheap 

 too. 



# " * « # * # 



If I stay, I shall witness much of the cultivation 

 of the crop of Beet, and probably some other 

 crops that might be advantageously transported to 

 America.. 



Arras, 22d April, 1836. 



Jacob Snider, Jr. Ksq. : 



Dear Sir: — Your welcome letter of 23d i\Iarch 

 I have received, and am truly thankful that all 

 our friends are in health ; will ihey accept my af- 

 fectionate and grateful remembrance. By this 

 time you will have received several letters from 

 me on the subject of my mission. I have said 

 that the Beet root sugar business is becoming of 

 the greatest importance to the whole continent; 

 as a proof that it is so, there is not a coppersmith 

 or iron founder in this de])artment of France who 

 has not more orders lor machinery than he can 

 execute. One in this town who employs 300 

 workmen in copper, brass and iron, has orders for 

 two years to come, chiefly in the sugar machinery 

 for foreign countries. I have also said that the 

 success attending tne fabrication lias in a great 

 measure been owing to the encouragement held 

 out by the government who have offered premi- 

 ums for the best modes of preparation, and in this 



they have been joined by the scientilic bodies in 

 Franco anil other countries. Thus l',.r all has 

 been well, and no one can calculate the good that 

 has been effected by this branch of Agrico-manii- 

 facture ; the face, both of the country and its in- 

 habitants, has been changed, and industry and 

 happiness have been the result; but now the gov- 

 ernment is about to work a revolution, which like 

 all others that have taken place in this country, 

 aims at too much; it must pull down before it 

 can repair. A tax is proposed to be laid upon 

 Beet Sugar, which will in its consequences as ef- 

 fectually ruin the manufacture as that has been 

 snpjiorte<l by the favor of the .same government, 

 for it is not jiossible for one manufacturer in ten 

 to observe the restrictions to which all are made 

 subject. In the first place eveiy manufactory 

 must be enclosed by a high wall built at the ex- 

 pense of the proprietor, and tfi have but one door 

 ofentiance, just within winch a house is to be 

 prepari.'d for the residence of Excisemen, who are 

 to be on <luty here day rnd night, and to have the 

 supervision of the concern ; every man who makes 

 100,000 kilogrammes of sugar is to pay tlie^ie Ex- 

 cisemen 200 francs per anninn for their sup|iort ; 

 1.50,000 kils., 3,500 francs, and then comes the 

 primary tax of 15 fr. per kilogrmame, on all su- 

 gar that is made. — Now what is the object of the 

 Government ? Is to assist the colonies .' to levy 

 tnoney in the way of a tax .' or to ruin the Beet 

 sugar trade ? If it be the first let them reduce the 

 duty upon Colonial sugar as isproposeil, to which 

 there is no objection ; if the third, the plan which 

 they propose will serve tlieir purpose most com- 

 pletely. Now a great jiroportion of the manufac- 

 tories are erected in situations where they could 

 not be surround* 1 by a wall, as they are attached 

 to other buildings to remove those is quite out of 

 the power of the proprietors, who have in many 

 instances exjiended a fortune in their erections and 

 fillings up; these therefore must be abandoned, as 

 must all of those of small extent, who could not 

 if they would, aff'ord to keep jhe attendants out 

 of their slender business ; many others would quit 

 a [)nrsuit fettered with such odious exactions. It 

 is true some of the large manufactories might be 

 continued, for sugar would rise in price in conse- 

 quence of a scarcity in the market ; the result 

 however would be, the people would be debarred, 

 as formerly of the use of it. I have been led to 

 this subject by your remark that the Island of 

 Gaudaloupe has petitioned to be permitted to 

 trade elsewhere than to France ; but this, that 

 Island has long done, and permission has not been 

 given ; nor will it be necessary if this tax be lev- 

 ied : but in the event of their being so permitted, 



how shall we in America be affected by it ? would 

 sugar be permitted to be introduced to the destruc- 

 tion of our manufacture ? From what I have 

 seen I am not afraid to con)i)ete with the cane, 

 acre for acre, for it is not the mere article of su- 

 gar that is of importance, or rather of the greatest 

 importance ; it is the spirit of industry, of happi- 

 ness, — of beef and mutton, if you will, that it en- 

 genders in a country, which is of far greater 

 consequence. Permit me to transcribe from one 

 of the papers some remarks which arc 1 think pe- 

 culiarly applicable to the subject. "However de- 

 sirable it might be to preserve or to favor the Col- 

 onies, the time of their exclusive supply of the 

 market with sugar is gone by ; the species of cul- 

 tivation naturalized in thirtysix departments of 

 France is well worth the prodnce of three islands 



lost ill the bosom of the ocean. To |. refer the lat" 

 ter 10 the fonmw is about as reasonal.lo as to ad' 

 here to the use of bows and arrows after the in" 

 vention of gunpowder, 'fhs making of Beet Su- 

 gar, for which the |)opnlation of France has shown 

 a wonderful aptitude, is a kind of God-send that 

 should be taken ailvantage of, for the uniting to- 

 gether of agricultural and manufacturing art-" the 

 whole system of the law for imposing duties on 

 Beet Sugar is had, it starts from false ideas, and 

 leads to the most lamentable results." 



I arn aware, however, that the (pieslion of free 

 trade, like th;U of the currency, is to be handled 

 delicately ; I am not competent to the task and 

 must leave this knotty point to those who are. I 

 shall he capable, however, to m;ike Beet Sugar on 

 tny return; and if he who made two blades of 

 grass grow where but one grew before, deserved 

 well (if his country, may I liojie to enjoy that lux- 

 ury on my return. The present season is remark- 

 able for having its crushing jirocess extendefl to an 

 unusual length, which has given me advantages 

 which I eouhl not else have enjoyed. We are 

 now busily engaged with the Molasses of second 

 and third qualities, and I visit two manufactories 

 for the purpose of initiation into this important 

 branch of the j)rocess; I am also farming and 

 planting beet roots for seed, as well as prcfiaring 

 the material for clarifying at .Mr C's. miil.s, at a 

 short distance from the town. Mr C. has two 

 farms near, both of which I visit; be will have 

 400 acres of Beets on these this year; here are 

 many hundred acres of wheat after Beets, clean 

 as a garden, but the rotation is not good ; spring 

 corn is preferable, with .■?eeds, and so Mr Walker 

 will say I know. I went toinsjiect the large sugar 

 house of Monsieur, the Deputy last wee^ ; I had 

 a letter of introduction to him from the Mayor of 

 Boulogne, he was absent on his duty at Paris, 

 hut his lady received me graciously, giving me a 

 letter to the managers of tlie works ; he was not 

 present, so I reserved tire letter, to shew you the 

 warmth, and kindness which 1 experienced from 

 all. The works cost .£12,000, and expend the 

 steam of 90 horse power, but the principle is not 

 good and they work to a great ilisad vantage ; sev- 

 eral of their boilers cost 2,000 francs each. They 

 keep 40 horses and fhules, and were engaged in 

 sowing Beet seed with Mr C — 's drill, which I 

 should say drills five rows at onee, harrnwiug in 

 and rolling the seed at the same time. In a few- 

 days I am going to Valencieiiiies, to see a mauu- 

 factory belonging to a farmer who has received 

 the silver medal from the Society of Arts in Paris, 

 for machinery by which with the help of bis own 

 family, be makes 50 lbs. of Sugar a day. I have 

 heard also of two oihcr manufacturers there who 

 have improved machinery. But it Is in this part 

 of the country where they grow innnense quan- 

 tities of the white poppy for the oil. It is used 

 instead of olive oil, and is sent to Paris and else- 

 where to mix with that, and goes from thence all 

 over the continent as the best olwe oil. It is a 

 very profitable crop, is cultivated with tlie great- 

 est ease, and harvested most cheaply, coming rips 

 in about three months (some say two.) 1 visit 

 two crushing mills, and am astonished to find that 

 the produce of oil is 25 per cent from these insig- 

 nificant seeds. One of these mills is on a very 

 grand scale : the machinery in one room cost 

 .^4000, but is by no means necessary. I go to- 

 morrow to see a windmill, where the same work 

 is done to profit. — The poppy is cullivaled on 



