22 SUGAR 



call on you to favour beet-sugar. It is no business of 

 mine what sort of sugar you use. I have only come 

 with you as guide to the Sugar World and showman 

 of its life. Any serious, underlying idea I may have 

 in taking up this position will be fully realized if you 

 remember, whenever you see sugar or consume it, 

 that sugar-production is one of the most important 

 of our British Imperial industries. 



CHAPTER VI 



A CHAT ABOUT SUGAR-BEET 



The rival sugar crops belong to such very different 

 plant families that the methods of rearing them are 

 different in many respects, as also are the ways of 

 gathering in the harvest. 



Sugar-beetroots are raised from seeds. Among the 

 untiring efforts that have been made to bring the beet- 

 sugar industry to a high standard of efficiency, the 

 care and attention given to the seed department con- 

 spicuously point to zealous pursuit of progressive 

 ideals. The better the seed, the richer the quality and 

 quantity of sugar-juice in the roots. The yield has 

 already been trebled through the agency of the seed 

 nurseries. 



You will realize the importance of this increased 

 power of production when I tell you that a field of 

 sugar-cane naturally gives a very considerably larger 

 amount of sugar-juice than does a field of sugar-beet of 

 similar size. But so great has been the stimulus given 

 to beetroots by selecting the very best seed from which 



