216 



SUGAR. 



all. The raw sugar once obtained from the soil is of a higher value 

 in Europe than in the cane-growing colonies. The sugar requires 

 extracting, boiling down, and refining, and for all these opei-ations the 

 cheap coal, abundant supply of intelligent labour, modern machinery, 

 and cheap capital give a marked and decisive advantage to European 

 industry, as compared with that of the colonies. The money value of 

 a ton of green sugar held in the cells of beetroot is, when delivered 

 at sugar works in Europe, considerably higher than the value of a 

 ton of gi'een sugar contained in the cane delivered in the factory of 

 a West Indian sugar manufacturer. These are some of the principal 

 elements which enable beetroot cultivation in Europe, within certain 

 limits, to compete with advantage against the sugar manufacture of 

 colonial cane plantations. In reviewing the different advantages and 

 disadvantages of beetroot cultivation, as compared with cane culti- 

 vation, we have purposely avoided raising the question of yield from 

 a given weight of the plant. In this respect the present methods of 

 cane extraction are sadly behind those applied to the beetroot. The 

 best sugar mills at present hardly reach as high a yield as 70 per 

 cent, of juice on the weight of the cane, leaving fully 20 per cent, of 

 juice in the cane trash. This represents an extraction of 77 per cent, 

 of the sugar actually contained in the cane. From beetroot the 

 hydraulic press extracts about 94 per cent, of the saccharine matter 

 contained in the beet, and M. Robert's beautiful process of diffusion 

 comes nearer to perfection. 



" It is probable, however, that before long the diffusion process will 

 find its way into the cane-growing colonies in a more extensive 

 manner than has been hitherto the case, and will remove the disadvan- 

 tages of insufficient yield. The competition between sugar-cane and 

 beetroot will then be upon a more advantageous basis, so far as cane 

 is concerned, but it will still leave a wide field open to the competition 

 of beetroot in Europe." 



The Production of beet sugar in France in kilogrammes, according 

 to the official returns, has been as follows : 



Kilos. Kilos. 



1840 26,939,857 1865 209,648,000 



1855 67,709,000 1870 277,731,000 



1860 108,782,000 1874 431,913,000 



In 1871, only 79,666 tons were exported; in 1874, 185,124 tons. 

 According to the French official returns, in 1875 the importations 



of sugar into France were : 



KUos. 



Kaw sugar from the French colonies 66,002,000 



Eaw sugar from foreign countries 115,794,748 



White sugar from French colonies 37,077,331 



„ „ foreign countries 702,157 



The general exports of refined sugars from France were in 



Kilos. 



1873 153,643,032 



1874 185,643,032 



1875 215,671,403 



