BEET SUGAR, the sugar obtained from the beet, similar to cane sugar. The discovery of sugar in the beet was made by a German chemist, Marggraf, as early as 1747. No prac tical results followed his discovery, however, as the cost of obtaining sugar from the beet by laboratory methods was too high as compared with that of cane sugar. Little progress was ac complished until about 50 years later, when an other German chemist, Achard, succeeded in extracting sugar from the beet root on a com paratively large scale. In 1802 a manufactory was in operation in Silesia, in which, under Achard's direction, about 20 quintals of beets were worked up daily, and about five pounds of raw sugar extracted from every quintal. The high price of sugar prevailing at that time all over the European continent by reason of the block ade, and the great interest and favorable atti tude taken by the different continental govern ments toward the new experiment, caused it to be a success for a short time. Napoleon is sued an imperial decree in the early part of his reign, establishing this industry in France, and in 1812 he ordered the building of four factories and placed Chaptal in charge. In 1830 attempts were made in the United States to introduce the cultivation of the sugar-beet. It was not, however, till 1870 that the first successful beet sugar factory was built, at Alvarado, Cal.
The Industry in the United The production of sugar-beets and of beet sugar in the United States is now assuming such pro portions that, with the increase of factories and the marked popular interest, it has become one of the leading subjects demanding considera tion from agriculturists. There is probably no other industry in this country that has developed so rapidly and now absorbs so large a share of public attention as that of beet sugar.
Attempts were made to establish the indus try in Massachusetts in 1838. There were also efforts in this direction in Illinois, Wisconsin and California between 1863 and 1876, and much was claimed for the industry at this time by newspaper writers, capitalists and leading farmers. In California, after a long period of unprofitable production, it achieved its first success in 1879. The failure of these early attempts seems now very natural as we look back over the history of agricultural progress in the United States. The beet-sugar industry belongs to the domain of agriculture, and the problems it presents are agricultural. These early efforts were simply ahead of their time in the course of agricultural development, and they failed in the establishment of the beet sugar industry for want of the proper methods of farming and the proper conditions underly ing the farming industry.
At the time of the first attempts at sugar beet production, agriculture comprehended sim ply the primary features. Its products were confined mainly to cereals, forage crops and live stock, and the production and marketing of raw materials was its main object. The farmer in those early days did not concern himself with enterprises dependent on the con centration of efforts in the production of fin ished products. Land could be purchased for a few dollars per acre. If the prospective farmer did not have the money to buy the land he could enter a claim on government land. His whole ambition was to produce something quickly and pay for the lands and primary im provements. This was accomplished by raising corn, wheat, oats, cattle and hogs. The open public domain offered a free pasture. Gradu ally the Eastern sections became more densely settled, and farm lands became more expensive. Crude production was accomplished more cheaply by the Western farmer. Later, owing to development of transportation facilities, the agriculture of this country had to compete with the cheap labor of Europe. The colonial extension of European countries brought areas into competition with American farms in turn ing out crude products, and with labor much cheaper even than that of Europe. The problem became, how to turn crude material into something that would represent not merely the labor but the skill and ingenuity of the American people, thus supplying our own markets and those of the world with finished products. The American farmers found, as the manufacturers had found before them, that their success depended upon the superior skill and artisan ability of Americans as compared with Europeans and their colonists. <'Neces sity is the mother of invention," and demand and necessity united in the evolution of a new system. This began in the East, working west ward, in the production of butter, cheese, pre pared meats, flour, eggs, poultry, etc. Later came the establishment of other industries, working up crude products of the farm into fin ished articles. We became producers of syrups, canned vegetables, canned fruits, etc., until manufacturing re-in forced farming from ocean to ocean. When all this was accomplished, the time was ripe for the success of the beet-sugar industry.