Dec. 1895.] BEET-SUGAR INDUSTRY ON THE CONTINENT. 299 



what measures should be taken to meet the crisis. It seems 

 to be generally admitted that the fall in price is due, to a 

 large extent, to over-production, which is encouraged by the 

 bounty system. In the opinion of some Austrian experts the 

 only remedy for the existing depression is the abolition of the 

 bounties by international agreement ; others advocate State 

 control of the annual output of sugar. The former view appears 

 to be shared by some members of the Government, for, in closing 

 the conference, Count Falkenhahn said that be was not without 

 hope that it might be possible to discover some solution of the 

 serious difficulties which now oppressed the beet-sugar industry 

 in Austro-Hungary. 



In Germany the cultivation of sugar-beet for the manufacture 

 of sugar is centred for the most part in the kingdom of Prussia, 

 and chiefly in the provinces of Saxony, Silesia, Hanover, Posen, and 

 West Prussia. Considerable quantities of beet are also produced in 

 Brunsv/ick, Anhalt, and Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Nearly 50 per 

 cent, of the crop used for the production of sugar is grown on 

 land belonging to the sugar factories or by persons holding 

 shares in these establishments. The purchased roots are generally 

 grown by contract, under special instructions furnished by the 

 sugar manufacturers. 



The manufacture of beet-sugar in Germany began in 1801, 

 when a factory was opened in Lower Silesia. For some years 

 the industry made but slow progress. In 1836, there were 

 122 factories in operation, while 25 years later there were 

 more than double that number. Coming to a more recent 

 period, the development of the industLy may be seen from the 

 table below. It will be observed that, although the number 

 of factories has remained more or less stationary for several 

 years past, there has been a great increase in the output of 

 sugar, due partly to the rapid extension of the business done 

 by the existing establishments, and partly to improvements 

 in the processes of manufacture having rendered it possible to 

 extract a greater proportion of saccharine matter from a given 

 quantity of beet. 



Year. 



Number 

 of factories in 

 operation. 



Quantity 

 of Beet 

 consumed. 



Quantity 

 of Raw Sugar 

 produced. 



Quantity 

 of Raw Sugar 

 produced 

 per 100 ibs. 

 of Beet. 



Quantity of 

 Beet required 



for the 

 Production of 



100 lbs. 

 of Raw Sugar. 







Cwts. 



Cwts. 



lbs. 



lbs. 



1879-80 - 



328 



94,380,000 



8,040,000 



8-52 



1,174 



1884^85 - 



408 



201,340,000 



22,060,000 



10-79 



926 



1889-90 - 



401 



192,940,000 



23,840,000 



12*36 



809 



1893-94 - 



405 



209,080,000 



25,900,000 



12-36 



809 



A tax of about 2d. per cwt. on raw beets destined for the 

 manufacture of sugar was imposed in 1844. This tax was 



