132 RURAL DENMARK 



East Anglia has been most unfavourable to the de- 

 velopment of any sort of root crop, except perhaps 

 white turnips, the rain having been continuous and 

 sunshine nothing but a memory. 



The result in my case was that although the plot 

 was amply manured, I do not believe that we secured 

 much more than 6 tons an acre of rather indifferent 

 sugar-beet. Yet when it came to the question of 

 getting them up (a drought had inconveniently set 

 in at the time which made the land almost too hard 

 to plough), the cost was no less than $, 3s. At 

 this rate 17s. a ton, the amount paid by the Dutch 

 purchasers on board ship, was not a remunerative 

 price. I append a rough account of the expenses 

 so that the reader may judge of the matter for 

 himself. 



It must be remembered, however, that under 

 suitable conditions I could, I think, grow at least 12 

 tons per acre on land which I farm, and that if a mill 

 existed in the neighbourhood that would give full 

 value for the roots and return the refuse to feed cattle, 

 the results might read differently. Only the question 

 of labour for lifting would remain ; also that labour 

 would have to be trained to the work, which, as I 

 shall describe later, in Falster is sometimes done by 

 Polish girls. Some of my neighbours who also grew 

 trial fields of sugar-beet, imported from Germany 

 the proper forks for lifting them, but of these forks 

 the Norfolk labourer declined to make use. The 

 result was that many of the beet were broken in the 

 ground, which is to be avoided, as the tail part is the 

 richest in sugar and the goodness escapes through 

 the wound. 



Here is the account : 



