of working sugar-factories from one hundred and fifty-two to one hundred and forty-five; in 1842-43 the tax was doubled, when the number was reduced to ninety-eight factories.

The small and poorly-constructed establishments could not compete with the new and larger ones, nor with the cane-sugar refineries, the proprietors of which strained every nerve to drive beet sugar out of the market, and the former, therefore, had to suspend work. Although, in 1843-44, factories were at work again, the number was reduced to ninetyeight the next year, and to ninety-six in the following year, the tax having been again increased. Since 1846-47 the production has taken a decided start, the number of factories having grown from year to year, and they emancipated themselves from the cane-sugar refineries by producing either molasses or white loaf-sugar direct from the beet juice, without first working it into raw sugar; so that when, in 1850-'51, the tax on beet sugar was again doubled, it did not prevent new factories from being built.

While the number of sugar factories increased, the quantity of the beet worked by the same increased in a far greater ratio. It must be taken into consideration that official figures have been kept only since 1840-41, when records were commenced on account of the tax to be levied, and comparisons should be made only of years included in the official figures. Accordingly, the columns 2 and 3. table A, show that during the twentyseven years from 1840-41 to 1866-67 the number of working factories increased from one hundred and forty-five to two hundred and ninetysix, making an increase of about one hundred and four per cent., while the quantity of beets worked in these factories increased from 4,829,734 cwts. (of one hundred pounds) to 50,712,709 cwts., making an increase of nine hundred and fifty per cent. Of course the quantity of beets worked by each factory must have increased in proportion, as may be seen by column 15, table A, according to which each fac tory worked, on an average, in 1836-37, 4,155 cwts., or 227 English tons; in 1840-41, 33,309; while in 1866-67 the high average of 171,327 was reached. The variations in columns 3 and 15 of table A are the results of unfavorable beet crops. According to column 8, table A, the internal revenue or tax paid on the beets has increased from a quarter of a cent to seven and a half cents, or thirty-fold, while the actual revenue derived, as given in column 9, has increased from 40,248 thalers* to 12,678,177 thalers, or nearly three hundred and fifteen fold.

These averages are correct according to the best authorities, and go to show the enormous progress made not only in manufacturing beet sugar, but in cultivating and producing beets. It is obvious that the great variation in the average weather of the various years necessarily accounts for the variations of percentage of sugar and foreign matter in the beets, and the more or less difficult working of the same.

The systems of taxation in the different countries influence the general result in many particulars. In Prussia, or the Zollverein, the beets are washed and trimmed, and then weighed by government officials, and the revenue collected according to the quantity which enters the factory. From that moment the sugar manufacturer is at liberty to work at will, the government taking no notice, or at least not interfering, no matter how rich the beets, or how much or what kind of sugar is made; in fact, leaving him entirely free to do with the beets as he may please, except working them into alcohol.

In France the government begins its control as soou as the beet juice is extracted, weighing its specific gravity in the clarifying pan, and from that moment keeps a continual supervision of the whole process of sugar making, until the sugar leaves the entrepot or bonded warehouse, and enters into consumption. The annoyances incidental to this system are innumerable and continuous.

In Austria the system of taxation is regulated according to the dif ferent methods of extracting the juice, and the capacity of the machines employed for the purpose. The quantity of beets which could be worked with each machine for extracting juice is computed for twenty-four hours, and "lumped," which is called "pauschaling." The government keeps no other control than noting the number of hydraulic presses or other machines which work each day, according to their rating, allowing for no stoppages, unless a machine stops at least twenty-six hours. This system of taxation bears unevenly upon different factories, and is the cause of the secrecy observed in some of them as to general results.

In Russia, when new factories are built, they work for a certain time on trial, under the control of government officials, after which a quantity is agreed upon, which the factory works in twenty-four hours, and the amount of revenue which it ought to pay accordingly. Otherwise the government takes no notice of what is produced in any factory, and no official records are kept.

In Belgium the system is like that of France in nearly every respect, and in Poland it is the same as in Russia.

The influence of these different systems of taxation on the management of sugar works, and even on the culture of the beet, is surprising. In the Zollverein, where eighteen cents must be paid to the government for every centner of beets worked, a great deal of attention is paid to the production of rich beets, by reason of which the quality has been steadily improving. Beets are seldom raised on newly manured land; as a general rule the manure is applied to a grain crop, as barley, wheat, or rye; after these crops are taken off beets are raised without any manure, and after beets such crops, according to the strength of the land, as will pay best. Beets are, therefore, raised in rotation, on an average once in four years. The system of manuring and of producing the manure lias not only been studied as a science, but is practiced as an art. If it can be said of any country that the more beets and beet sugar it produces, the more grain it will yield, it can be said of the Zollverein; and it is much to be regretted that we have not so complete and correct official statistics of the increase of grain as we have of sugar. As the production of sugar has nothing to do with the amount of revenue, there is no objection to giving correct figures, either to the gov ernment or to individuals; and the manufacturers are left entirely free to work with any kind of machinery, in any way they please, to change it at will, and to make as many experiments as they like. The part to which sugar manufacturers pay most attention in the course of the work, whether they raise the beets or buy them, is to have the beet as rich in sugar as possible, and to take out all the juice that can possibly be expressed; the revenue tax being the same, whether seventy-five per cent. or ninety per cent. of the juice is extracted, and whether the juice contains ten per cent. or fifteen per cent. of sugar. It cannot be denied, therefore, that the system followed in the Zollverein is the most scientific and the most rational of any, and the official figures obtained in relation to it the most reliable.

In France government supervision commences with the extraction of the juice; the raw beets being under no control, and the quality being

considered immaterial, they are not near so rich as those grown in the Zollverein, and are mostly raised on newly manured land, the great aim being to produce a large crop, or, in other words, to raise as many beets on an acre as possible. As a natural consequence, grain crops are not so large as they might be, the limit of manure production being always the natural limit of fertility. Statistics, with the exception of the actual sugar production and consumption, are less reliable and complete than those of the Zollverein, the tax in Austria being varied on the number of juice-producing machines, and their capacity according to official classification. A press, or other juice-rendering machine, can work as many beets of rich quality as of inferior; and, as the tax is the same of either, it is essential to work as rich beets as possible; therefore, the beets raised there are generally of a quality superior to those in France. The juice is never so perfectly extracted as in the Zollverein, although double pressing is never resorted to.

In Russia, where the sugar factories work on trial, under government supervisors, for a short time only, and are taxed according to the result obtained, no statistics can be procured, or, if so, they are unreliable; but it is estimated that Russian factories work twice the amount reached by government taxation.

It is obvious that the figures given by the revenue officers of the Zollverein are the most complete, and the most reliable, and that the method of working in the factories is the most rational, because it opens the way for improvement, and every method of working is judged by its own merits, as no outside matters need be considered.

During the season of 1867-68, there were three hundred beet-sugar factories in operation in the Zollverein; in France, four hundred and seventy-one; in Belgium, one hundred and eleven; in Holland, eighteen; in Austria, one hundred and thirty-eight; in Russia, four hundred and thirty-nine, (of these one hundred and twenty-nine were not in operation ;) in Poland, forty; in Sweden, one; and in the United States, one. The number of all known beet-sugar factories in the world is thirteen hundred and ninety.* The quantity of beet sugar produced amounted in 1828 to 7,700 tons; in 1851 to 192,500 tons, and in 1865 to 581,350 tons. In France 17,000,000 hectares of land are required in beet culture to keep the factories employed, which is about one-sixth of all her land fit for culti vation; the same proportions applying to Belgium and Holland.

The government estimates are that in the Zollverein the average quantity of raw sugar obtained from beets during the season of 1845-46 was five per cent.; from that time to 1854-55, six and two-thirds per cent.; and since that time eight per cent.; or, in other words, up to 1845 it required a ton of beets to produce one hundred pounds of sugar; from 1846 to 1854 it required three-fourths of a ton of beets to one hundred pounds of sugar, and since then five-eighths of a ton to one hundred pounds of sugar. The increased product is partly due to improved machinery, and partly to the improved quality of the beets raised.

The recent report of W. Wadsworth, agent of the Sacramento Beet Sugar Company of California, states that "the number of beet-sugar factories in the different countries of Europe is as follows: France, three hundred and sixty-four; Belgium, thirty-six; Prussia, one hundred and forty-six; Austria, one hundred and twenty-five; in the rest of Germany, forty-eight; Poland, thirty-one; and in Russia, four hundred and fortyone; making in all one thousand one hundred and ninety-one without counting those smaller concerns that are found here and there in very many of the smaller isolated agricultural districts, and distinguished from the larger factories by their motive power being the animals of the farm, and their cost, generally, not exceeding five thousand dollars. If, however, these are counted in, there are then over six hundred beet-sugar factories in France alone, all of which are visited regularly by government officials, who collect the duties imposed on the sugar produced."-ED. REPORT,

+ Hectare, 2.4711 acres

In Germany and France it was formerly easy for sugar manufacturers to procure supplies of the beet, and the business was looked upon as a purely manufacturing one; but of late years many factories have been compelled to discontinue work, because it is impossible to procure beets. These factories are mostly located near large cities, where farmers brought their beets. Sugar production is now considered an agricultural business, and no factories have been built of late without sufficient land at command.

The local institutions of different countries, especially as relating to the divisions and ownership of lands, greatly affect the establishment and prosperity of beet-sugar works. In Rassia, of all the sugar factories forty-five per cent. belong to the nobility, and fifty-five per cent. to large landed proprietors, no joint stock companies existing. In Austria only thirty-eight per cent. are in the hands of the nobility; thirty-six per cent. in those of land proprietors, and there are twenty-six joint stock companies. In France the greater portion of these establishments belongs to private partnerships. In the Zollverein sixty five cent. belong either to private parties or to private partnerships, while fifty-five per cent. are joint stock companies. Both in France and the Zollverein the sugar works owned by the nobility are few in number, probably not five per cent. of the whole. The prosperity of these establishments, and their progress in perfecting the method of manufacturing, are in reverse proportion as they are owned by the nobility; Zollverein, Austria, and France having, perhaps, equal chances for progress during the last fifteen years.

The capacity of the largest beet-sugar factory known is sixty-six thousand tons per annum. It is located in Waghäusel, grand duchy or Baden, and works the beets complete into white loaf sugar. One of the smallest has a capacity of nineteen hundred tons per annurs, and is located at Klehtendorf, in Silesia; the former working sunimer and winter; the latter only in winter.

Looking back forty years, it is surprising to see the regular and steady increase of sugar consumption. From an article of luxury or medicine it has become a necessity of every-day consumption. Every civilized country has exerted itself to secure emancipation from slave-grown cane sugar, and to stop the flow of money to a few colonies. Without the United States as a regular customer, Cuba and Brazil might as well give up growing sugar, and direct their attention to a more healthy occupation. The United States is among the largest sugar-consuming and importing nations in the world, while producing little; and whatever can be said of other nations, regarding the necessity of becoming independent as to their supply of sugar, applies witli greater force to this country. In 1840 the consumption of sugar in the Zollverein amounted per capita to 4.67 pounds; in 1866 it amounted to 10 pounds per head, an increase of over one hundred per cent. in twenty-five years. In 1840 the quantity of sugar consumed in Austria was 1.68 pounds per head; in 1862 it reached 5.1 pounds, or nearly three hundred per cent. increase. As the consumption of sugar keeps pace with a nation's prosperity and progress in civilization, is there any reason to doubt that the consumption of sugar in the United States will increase in a ratio at least equal to that in Austria and the Zollverein.

THE MANUFACTURE OF BEET-SUGAR.

The operation of manufacturing beet sugar may be divided into three distinct parts: 1, the extraction of juice; 2, the purification of the same;