boilings of molasses, which requires from three to six months.

One thing struck me forcibly in going over the French and Belgian
works; it was the extreme liberality with which I was allowed to go
over every part of them; to remain in them as long as I pleased; had
all my inquiries answered, and every explanation given; in most
striking contrast to the grudging manner in which I have been
trotted over some of the refineries in England, as if those who
showed them were afraid I should gain any information on the subject
of their trade.

Mr. H. Colman, speaking of the agriculture of the Continent, gives
some information he obtained on the comparative cost of producing beet
and cane sugar. A hectare (two and a half acres) produces, in the Isle
of Bourbon, about 76,000 kilogrammes (a kilogramme is nearly two and
one-fifth pounds) of cane, which will give 2,200 kilogrammes of sugar,
and the cost for labor is 2,500 francs. A hectare of beet root
produces 40,000 kilogrammes of roots, which yield 2,400 kilogrammes of
sugar, and the expense of the culture is 354 francs. The cost of the
cane sugar in this case is 27 centimes, and of the beet sugar 14
centimes only, per kilogramme.

These are extraordinary statements, and will be looked at by the
political economist and the philanthropist with great interest. There
are few of the northern states of Europe, or of the United States,
which might not produce their own sugar; and when we take into account
the value of this product, even in its remains after the sugar is
extracted, for the fattening of cattle and sheep, and of course for
the enrichment of the land for the succeeding crops, its important
bearing upon agricultural improvement cannot be exaggerated.

According to M. Peligot, the average amount of sugar in beets is 12
per cent.; but, by extraction, they obtain only 6 per cent. The cane
contains about 18 per cent. of saccharine matter, but they get only
about 71/2. The expense of cultivating a hectare of beets, according to
Dombasle, is 354 francs. An hectare of cane, which produces 2,200
kilogrammes of sugar, in the Island of Bourbon, and only 2,000 in
French Guiana, demands the labor of twelve negroes, the annual expense
of each of whom is 250 francs, according to M. Labran.--(Commission of
Inquiry in 1840.)

Sugar has become not only an article of luxury, but of utility, to
such a degree, that a supply of it constitutes an important a