The extraction of sugar from beets dates back to 1747, when Andreas Marggraf, professor of physics in the Academy of Science of Berlin, discovered the existence of a sugar in beets similar in its properties to that obtained from cane.
The discovery was little utilized at first, however, and the manufacture of sugar from beets did not attain commercial importance for over half a century, when Franz Karl Achard, a pupil of Marggraf, made discoveries which led to the construction of the first beet-sugar factory in the world, in Silesia, in the year 1799.
The work of Achard soon attracted the attention of Napoleon Bonaparte, who appointed a commission of scientists to go to Silesia to investigate Achard’s factory. Upon their return, two small factories were constructed near Paris. Although these two factories were not altogether a success, the results attained greatly interested Napoleon, and in 1811 he issued a decree appropriating one million francs ($200,000) for the establishment of sugar schools, and compelling the farmers to plant a large acreage to sugar beets the following year. He also prohibited the further importation of sugar from the Indies after January 1, 1813.
As a result of these and other drastic decrees, three hundred and thirty-four factories were erected in France during the years 1812 and 1813, and their production was seven million seven hundred thousand pounds of sugar, or an average of eleven and one-half tons to the factory.
By permission of Truman G. Palmer, Esq.
SUGAR BEET
By permission of Truman G. Palmer, Esq.
ANOTHER TYPE OF SUGAR BEET