SPECIAL CROPS 



SUGAR AND THE SUGAR BEET— HONEY- 

 MAPLE PRODUCTS— FLAX— FRUIT AND VEGETABLES. 



Canadian Sugar Statistics. 



Annual consumption (approx.) 700,000,000 lbs. 



Consumption per capita (approx.) 100 lbs. 



Quantity of sugar imported— average of years 1912-13-14 643,318,862 lbs. 



Value of sugar imported — average of years 1912-13-14 $16,051,436 



Note. — Canadian imports of cane sugar come chiefly from the West Indies, includ- 

 ing San Domingo, Cuba and the British West Indies; also from British Guiana, Fiji 

 and Peru. San Domingo, the coloured republic, figures largely, while importations 

 from Fiji and Peru are quite important. 



1914 1915 



Number of beet sugar factories operating in Canada (Berlin and 



Wallaceburg, Ont.) 2 2 



Area of sugar beets (acres) 13,000 17,000 



Production of beets (tons) 150.188 



Production of refined sugar (lbs.) 29,000,000 37,000,000 



Number of growers 4,000 



Amount paid growers $873,150 



Average production per acre (tons) 9 



Amount received per ton $5 . 82 



Average received per acre $52 . 00 



United States Beet Sugar in 1915 



Area of beets harvested 624,000 acres 



Production of beets (approx.) 6,462,000 short tons 



Production of refined sugar 862,800 short tons 



Note — The crop of 1915 was the largest ever harvested. 



FROM SUGAR BEET TO WHITE GRANULATED SUGAR 



DR. MICHAEL POTVLIET, Sugar Expert from Holland. 



The history of the sugar beet goes back as far as 1747, when Marggraff tested for 

 the first time the wild growing beets from Southern Germany and Northern Italy. 

 The percentage of sugar found in the pressed beet juice amounted to from 2 to 4 per 

 cent. It took Marggraff many years to improve the quality of the beets by proper 

 selection and at the end of the 18th Century the sugar content was as high as 10%. 



Continuing the work of his teacher, Achard in 1801 started to operate the first 

 sugar factory in Kunern, Schlesien, Germany. Every one acquainted with the technical 

 side of beet sugar manufacturing can understand the tremendous difficulties Achard 

 had to fight. The way to sugar manufacturing was open, however, and it took a 

 genius, like Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France, to continue and improve the success 

 of his German neighbour. 



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