224 
STATE AGEICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 
The political situation in Europe was at this time singularly 
favorable to the discoveries of Achard. France desired to be 
freed from the commercial monopoly of England, and to re¬ 
duce the high price of sugar which the war with that power 
had caused. 
Experience in France did not, however, confirm the brilliant 
results which had been announced. The commission appoint¬ 
ed by the institute to inquire into this matter reported the 
cost of the new product at one franc eighty centimes instead of 
sixty centimes, the price announced by Achard. Two manu¬ 
factories which had been establishnd near Paris suspended 
operations, and by their failure threw great discredit upon this 
industry, which has achieved its present success only after 
many years of patient and persistent endeavor. 
In 1810 the report of Mr. Deyeux, which was read before the 
Academy of Sciences, again called the attention of the public 
to the advantages which would result from the manufacture of 
beet sugar. Cane sugar had at this time reached an exorbitant 
price, being three francs per half kilogram, equal to about 
sixty cents per pound. The attention of the French govern- 
% 
ment was also called to this subject, and some specimens of 
sugar were presented to the Emperor Napoleon. 
The feasibility of the manufacture of sugar from the beet 
having been established, there needed to be but a favorable 
opportunity to secure to France the possession of this in¬ 
dustry. 
By the decree of March 25, 1811, the Emperor ordered that 
thirty-two thousand hectares of land should be devoted to the 
culture of the beet, and one million francs were placed at the 
disposal of the minister of interior for encouraging this indus¬ 
try. Instructions were sent to all the departments, and a new 
decree, under the date of January 15, 1812, established five 
schools of chemistry, where the processes used in this manu¬ 
facture were taught. Two million kilograms of raw sugar were 
also produced in the four imperial factories from the harvest 
of 1812. 
The manufacture was further encouraged by granting five 
