New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-05-17
BEET SUGAR,

ouBdl, eAo oahc oS CoetoH, tHe CHSIlS
people have a great desire to procure il
nearer home if possible, and not to be de-
pendent upon other countries for its pro-
duction and home consumption. To this
end experiments have been made and
are continued with the view of proving
that England is as good a place as Cuba
or Louisiana for the raising of sugar.
Enterprising farmers there are pushing
inquiries into the feasibility of attempt
ing the culture of the sugar beet, and the
manufacture Of sugar on a large scale.
The most considerable experiment in
that line is that of a Mr.. Duncan, of
Lavenham, in Suffolk, who made four
thousand five hundred tons of beet sugar
last year. Experiments in cultivation of
the sugar beet have also been made in
Ireland by a Mr.. Agar Ellis, on different
farms on Lord Clifton's estate in Kill
kenny, upon deep, heavy sods of lime
stone or mari. Nine specimens grown in
1867 yielded rs per cent of crys-
talized sugar. The following year was
better, giving an average of 1913 per
cent from ten specimens. 1t is, how
ever, very certain that this business can
not be prosecuted to any very great
extent, as for the most part the soil and
climate of the British Islands was not well
adapted to make it advantageous or profit
able as a speculation.
On the continent the culture of the beet
and the manufacture of sugar from it
are successfully and probably car
ried Oh. Since the year 1886, in Ger
many the beet sugar production has
reached such dimensions that it not only
supplies the home demand and prevents
cane sugar from coming into competition,
but has become a regular article Of ex-
port, competing in the English and
Dutch markets with the sugar of the
tropics. In 1886 there were one hundred
and twenty-five beet sugar factories in OPP
Grafton, of which ninety belonged to Prus-
STA and thirty-two to various other states of
the Zollverein. In 1867 there were two
hundred and ninety-six such factories, of
which two hundred and ffty-seven were
located in Prussia and its provinces, and
only thirty-nine in the other states of the
Zollverein. In France, in 1868,
there were four hundred and seventy-one
beet sugar factories in operation; in
Belgium, one hundred and eleven; in Hol-
land, eighteen; Austria, one hundred and
thirty-eight; in Russia, four hundred and
thirty-nine; in Poland, forty in Sweden,
one, and in the United States n These
factories were supplied with the raw mate
rial produced by farmers of the country
where they were located. The capacity of
the largest beet sugar factory known is
sixty-six thousand tons per mum. 1t is
located in Waghausel, grand duchy of Ba-
den, and works the beet complete into
white loaf sugar. One of the smallest has
a capacity of nineteen hundred tons per
annum, and is located at K~lehtendorf, in
Silesia the former working summer and
winter, the latter only in winter.
During the past forty years there has
been an astonishing increase of sugar
consumption. 1t has been regular and
steady, and from an article of luxury or
medicine it has become a daily necessity
for every family in the civilized world,
without regard to circumstances. In
England its consumption is proportion
ately greater than that Of any other
country. In 1869 it was forty-four
pounds for every person; in 1870 it had
risen to forty-seven pounds. Last years
imports exceeded 700, 900 tons, equal in
to one-eighth the consumption of
wheat, and more than o~ne-fourth of the
of that product. In 1910 the
consumption of sugar in the Zollverein
amounted to five pounds for each person;
in 1866 it amounted to ten pounds; in
1870 to eighteen pounds, an increase of
over one hundred and fifty per cent in
thirty years.
In 1910 the quantity of sugar consumed
in Austria wa about two pounds
to each person; in 1862 it reached
a fraction over five pounds or nearly three
hundred per cent increase. In Vene-
zuela the consumption is one hundred
and ten pounds to each person; in France
and Holland fifteen pounds; in Ireland
four pounds; in Italy three pounds, and
Russia two pounds only. The annual
consumption in France is about PIG, 900
in Germany not quite 200, 900 tons;
in the United States about $50, 900 tons,
and in the entire world about 1900, 900
tons. While this increase in demand
goes on there is NJ corresponding increase
in the sources of supply. Not many
years ago Cuba furnished nearly one-half
Of all the sugar in the world, but in conse-
quence of the troubles incident to the
revolution in that island, it is suggested
slave labor may be discontinued there,
that a serious diminution in that crop
would follow, at least for a time, and as
III most tropical countries the cane
is dependent upon hired Coolie
labor, the supply of which is becoming
more costly and uncertain, the growing
of beet sugar is a matter not only
great interest but Of great moment"
says Mr.. Card, in a Speech recently