United States

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 1795102764

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-179770

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: United States

Place of publication:: Washington

Publisher:: Gov. Pr. Off.

Year of publication:: 1928

Scope:: VII, 112 S

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Document type:: Monograph

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Title:: Historical development of the sugar-beet industry in the United States

Collection:: Economics Books

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE SUGAR-BEET INDUSTRY IN THE UNITED STATES? - EARLY HISTORY OF SUGAR INDUSTRY Sugar did not become an important item of diet until modern times. Formerly it was used only as a medicine and was sold in small quantities by apothecaries. In ancient times honey was the principal sweet food, and early Greek and Roman writers mention sugar as a rare product and refer to it as the ‘honey which comes from bam- boos.” Sugar cane became an important commercial source of sugar several centuries before the discovery of sugar in beets. Early in the sixteenth century sugar cane was introduced into the West Indies and into Central and South America from Mediterranean countries. The first cane-sugar mill was erected in Cuba in 1547. With increased production in. the American colonies, sugar came into more general use in Europe. The price in London, which had been as high as $275 per hundred pounds as late as 1482, had by the close of the fifteenth century fallen to $53. For many years it remained a luxury, and not until after the middle of the seventeenth century did it really become a part of the diet of European peoples. In 1747 sugar was for the first time obtained from beets by Andrew Marggraf, a member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. Under the encouragement of Frederick the Great, of Prussia, and Frederick William III, the first commercial extraction of sugar from beets was developed by Carl Franz Achard. In 1799-1801, the first beet-sugar factory in the world was built near Steinan in Silesia, Germany. The development of factory methods from laboratory practice was a slow and tedious process and even after the erection of the first factory the difficulty of purifying sugar and the low sugar content of the beets were factors that discouraged the enterprise. However, the growth of the industry in Europe was greatly stimu- lated by the blockades established during the Napoleonic wars. As a result of embargoes the average price of sugar on the Continent from 1807 to 1815 was 30 cents per pound. Napoleon strove to supply the shortage by encouraging the growing of sugar ‘beets, the build- ing of sugar factories, and the study of the technical problems of sugar-beet growing and sugar manufacture. His policy was so successful that, by 1812, 40 factories were in operation in France. This period really marked the beginning of the modern commercial sugar-beet industry. Later development in Europe was somewhat spasmodic, being affected by the competition of cane sugar, by the irregular progress of the science of growing and manufacture, and by adverse legislation. The most rapid progress was made in Germany. There agricultural conditions were favorable to the industry, the sugar content of beets was increased by means of seed selection, and advances were made » For a history of the sugar-beet industry see Harris, F. S., The Sugar Beet in America, 1919.

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