176 



SUCAK I5F.ET IN SDL'Tll AFRICA. 



European conditions, and in South Africa, too, the necessary 

 adjustments have to be made. This can onl}- be done thoroughly 

 when the effects of those differences on beet production have 

 been properly studied. Even in the United States there is much 

 to be learnt in this respect ; for instance, the investigator last 

 quoted points out that variations in soil and methods are not 

 enough to account for the great discrepancies in yield everywhere 

 to be observed, and this he illustrates by saying that " within 

 a small area under similar soil conditions, with identical climatic 

 conditions and employing like methods, one may hnd a farmer 

 rejoicing as he hands 20 tons of beet from each acre to the 

 factory, while his neighbour is almost too discouraged to load 

 his pit;ful seven or eight tons into his wagon."* No more need 

 be added to emphasise tlie desiral)ility of conducting investiga- 

 tions on our own account, both to ascertain what variations in 

 yield are likely to occur within this country, as well as to discover 

 and deal with the causes of such variations. 



To illustrate the need for investigation, I may refer to what 

 happened in Australia twenty years ago. There were two parties 

 in Victoria relative to the sugar-beet (|uestion. One urged care- 

 ful investigation and the testing of different parts of the country, 

 in order to determine the best locality for the establishment of 

 a sugar-beet industry. The other party was in favour of the 

 immediate erection of a big factory. The Government advanced 

 £62,000. The factory was jmt up, and it was capable of dealing 

 with 400 tons of roots per day. Thus, a 100-day season would 

 liave meant 40,000 tons of roots. Only 9,000 tons were forth- 

 coming during the first year and 6,000 in the second. The result 

 was that the Government foreclosed.! 



As already stated, many of the samples, wdiose analyses are 

 recorded either herein or in m\- earlier papers, were grown by 

 private enterprise — i.e., without any (iovernment control or 

 supervision, and so the information that would make the chemical 

 analyses valuable was largely lacking. The differing percentages 

 of sugar found may be due to a variety of causes : the seed, 

 the locality, the time of sowing, the season, the treatment of 

 the plants during growth may singly or collectively contribute 

 to great diversity in the yield of sugar, and if definite results 

 are to be arrived at, of value to the whole community, all con- 

 tributing factors must be closely noted, and as the cultural 

 experiments from different localities and under varying cir- 

 cumstances should be co-ordinated, if instruction is to be 

 gathered from the whole, it is clear that none but a central and 

 far-reaching authority like the Union or Provincial Government 

 can do this with any hope of success. 



The chemical analyses of beet and mangolds grown in the 

 Eastern Districts, and referred to in this paper, were carried out 



* Loc. cit., p. 2. 



t A. N. Pearson: "The .Suf^ar liKiiistry in Victoria," and " Cedara 

 lyiemoirs,"' 2, 107. 



