The Beet Sugar Industry for Ireland.

Even in countries whose governments foster and protect industries to the utmost many a stirring tale of extraordinary courage and final triumph is bound up with the struggles of enthusiasts determined to plough their way through seemingly insuperable difficulties to attain great industrial ends. How much more necessary is it then for us to nerve ourselves here in Ireland with the constancy of faith to the solution of our large industrial problems. I have just finished reading the story told in "The Louisiana Planter and Sugar Manufacturer" of the waves of overwhelming misfortune which swept over and swept down one attempt after another in the early days of the beet sugar industry in California. The first factory to make beet sugar in California was started so recently as 1870, and though it has passed through desperate crises, that factory is in full vigour to-day. The Press, vested interests, the usual scoffers at inexperienced enthusiasts, all predicted and did their utmost to effect the inevitable failure of the attempt to make beet sugar profitably. Investors were frightened off by every difficulty that was encountered being magnified a hundred-fold, and yet the industry lived and grew. Though many firms went down, mainly through failure of crops in 1872 and 1875, and though public confidence in the future of the industry was severely shaken by this cause and through the failure of the beet sugar makers to compete successfully against the cane sugar planters, the indomitable founder of the industry in California, E. H. Dyer, held on through a period when all over the States the beet sugar industry was in extremis. Even he in 1887 had to yieldfor a short period-to superior forces, for in that year no beet sugar was made in the States. By persistent hard work the output grew from 500,000 lbs. in 1870 to its highest point, 1,906,300 lbs. in 1884. Let those of us who are interested in seeing this industry started in Ireland think of the way the man who conquered the adverse circumstances he

met with went to work :-"Mr. Dyer began to study the beet proposition carfully and scientifically. He sifted out the peculiarities of the beet and analyzed its individuality that had been impressed upon it as a native of American soil. He applied new methods of handling juices. He studied often night and day to find new fields of economy, and actually reduced the cost of manufacture from ten to five cents a pound. Not only this, but he went out into the fields, he talked with the farmers, he taught them, he did his campaigning near the ground as he always had done, he studied the soils, so that in the early eighties his beets tested as high as 14.37 per cent. sugar contents and a purity of 85.7 per cent., and after the experience of six years he demonstrated to the reluctant farmers what was in store for them. He faced all sorts of attacks, ridicule, and contempt, but never permitted himself to be a martyr, for there was too much dignity in beet culture. He faced such articles as the following with some amusement when he read : "Capital has been seduced into these ventures by plausible representations and magnificent figures good citizen who has a regard for the permanent prosperity of the State, whether engaged in sugar making or not, must regret so large an expenditure of money fruitlessly."

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After the great break down of 1887, nothing daunted, Mr. Dyer improved his machinery, and in 1897 increased his tonnage capacity to 800 tons per day.

In a special report to Congress relative to beet sugar on May 22nd, 1900, President McKinley said of Mr. Dyer and his work:"This is the pioneer plant in the United States for the manufacture of sugar from beets. Through his enthusiasm and persistence the factory at Alvarado continued to make sugar out of sugar beets in the face of all opposition, vicissitudes, and adversity. The enterprise itself had to fight its way into public favour as a plausible proposition."

From the very start he gave his money, energy, and ability to build up the industry and educate public opinion in regard to it. In season and out of season he advocated the adaptability of California for producing beet sugar. Today eight large successful factories in California are the tribute to this great industrial patriot's work, reaching in 1903 an output of 160,000,000 pounds, £1,200,000 in value,

with a home consumption of 101,577,800 pounds in a population of 1,485, 053. It has been steadily on the increase since.

Suppose Ireland's consumption of sugar were the same, although our population is three times that of California, and that she only supplied herself, we should be able to have five factories going regularly for the supply of our own home demand alone. We need men like Dyer to set the industry going in Ireland. Three sons and two nephews of our Californian exemplar have thoroughly educated themselves in the art and science of sugar making, also in factory designing and construction. They with their father "delved into German laboratories, scrupulously studied details with microscope and polariscope, had mastered the mechanical part, and waged a relentless war on all obstacles that had crossed their path."

One is a mechanical engineer, another an expert of designing and construction, another a specialist on every day operation, another an analyst, but each a sugar expert first. Two of them have gone into the sugar machinery construction business and have already constructed 23 beet sugar factories within the United States.

the

I have not hesitated to go thus fully into

history and acts of these men, because their whole story and their present work is of intense and immediate interest to all who hope to see this industry re-created in Ireland. But further, the history of what was done at Mountmellick is in such utter contrast to that of California that the steadying effect of the latter may nerve us to grapple with the problem in a more manful and business-like way. And it is as likely as not, when Ireland settles down to work on this problem, that we shall have to consult these successful specialists about our plans.

What prospects are there for, let us suppose, a number of Irishmen who believe in growing beet for sugar and wish to get the industry on its feet? We know that some Cork farmers grew beet 30 years ago and got 13 to 17 per cent. sugar content, but as there was no factory the farmers could not dispose of the crop and gave up growing it. The weight of evidence given at the Irish Industries Commission of 1885 was strongly in favour of Ireland as a country adapted for growing beet for sugar.

An eminent

expert, Baruchson, examined in regard to climatic conditions in Ireland, said :—“A moist climate with moderate sun is what the beet requires, and such is the climate of Ireland.” And Professor W. K. Sullivan, of the Queen's College, Cork, at the same enquiry, made it clear as the results of experiments that sugar beet could be grown in Ireland with a minimum average of saccharine matter to ensure the supply of any factories that might be established. And when Sir Robert Kane was asked did he know of any reason why Ireland should not be a great sugar manufacturing country, "I know of none," was his reply.

Let us see the value of this industry and its wonderful growth. In a paper read before the Kansas City Sugar Congress, Mr. Palmer, Secretary of the American Beet Sugar Association, told how "in 1840 the world used about one million tons of sugar, less than five per cent. of which was derived from beets. In 1890, the world's sugar consumption had increased to six million tons, only to be doubled last year, when the crop exceeded twelve million tons, over seven millions of which were produced from sugar beets. Owing to the important bearing of home sugar production on the domestic economy of a nation, the statesmen and political economists of Europe have so legislated that over £120,000,000 have been invested in 1,500 beet sugar factories. In Germany, especially Central Germany and Saxony, beet sugar production is not only the chief industry, but is annually increasing in extent. Wherever it makes its way, writes Consul Thomas H. Norton. to the U. S. State Department, from Chemnitz, in the kingdom of Saxony, the whole countryside has changed in appearance. The houses and fields have been largely improved and an air of thrift and prosperity prevails. Japan is racing hard with Germany and America to capture the big markets of the East, and is building up a vast industry in beet sugar with feverish haste. Thousands of miles away, the farmers of Camperdown in Natal have met and decided to start a beet sugar factory with a capacity of about 300 tons. This is the standard advised by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It costs £40,000 to build and equip.

When is Ireland going to capture her own vast trade in sugar for herself? When is she too going to have her share

of the export trade of Europe?

U. L. MAC CUMHAILL.

The Brewing Industry.

There is every reason to believe that the art of brewing is almost as old as the world itself. Its early history is somewhat difficult to trace, but we know from the writings of Herodotus that beer or a wine drawn from barley was the liquor principally used by the Egyptians. He describes the clergy as feasting on the sacrifices and quaffing the sacred wine, and relates that in the time of Cambyses, 539 years before the Christian era, the Scyrians were well skilled in the manufacture of palm wine.

The Peruvians have practised the art of brewing from a remote period, and use large quantities of maize in the manufacture of chica, a very intoxicating beverage. remarkable that the grain used has in all such cases been made to undergo the process of malting. The malted maize is called jora, and the liquid from same having being boiled for some time ferments like our ale or porter. When Partholamus, a Grecian colonist, came to Ireland A.M. 1798, it is said that he brought with him ploughmen and brewers. If such be the fact, the knowledge of malting amongst the Irish must have been coeval with the first settlers.

We learn from the writings of Cormac Mac Cullenan, Archbishop of Cashel and King of Munster, who flourished in the ninth century, that the making of malt and brewing of ale were then familiar in this country. Cuirm was a common name applied to beer and ale, and bracat or sainlinn was a name for a drink brewed from malt, brac or breach signifying malt. The practise in former times of fermenting worts by means of yeast is supposed to have been introduced into Ireland by the Celts, and the yeast was preserved by means of a furze bush kept in the chimney from brewing to brewing. We are told that during the intercourse between the Irish and the people of Chester in 1156 ale was mentioned as an article of export into that city, from which it is evident that brewingwas familiar in the country at that period.