SUGAR BEET 83 



farming in vogue in several parts of the country. It has 

 not been demonstrated indeed, it cannot be demon- 

 strated by figures which do not represent results 

 that the beet sugar industry will be an economic success 

 in this country ; nothing but an actual full scale trial 

 can settle this question, yea or nay. The one factory 

 that has been established has laboured under consider- 

 able difficulties, some due to the pioneer character of 

 the work, others to the foreign direction and the result- 

 ing unfamiliarity with English farming conditions. The 

 factory is still at work, but for these and other reasons 

 the men who are best qualified to judge do not consider 

 that even a failure of this enterprise could be taken as 

 finally demonstrating that the manufacture of beet 

 sugar must be unprofitable in England. Losses must 

 be expected in the early stages of a specialized new 

 industry of this kind ; if for no other reason, because 

 of the time and cost required to educate the farmers on 

 whom the supply of raw material is dependent. But 

 having regard to the importance of producing a part of 

 our imports of sugar and the valuable element that the 

 beet crop has proved to be in the agriculture of other 

 countries, there is every justification for an experiment 

 on such a scale and with such a reserve of capital as will 

 give the industry a thorough working trial after the 

 initial difficulties have been overcome. There are other 

 possible rural industries with regard to which a prima 

 facie case can be made out for a trial on a commercial 

 scale, a trial that will be experimental on both the 

 agricultural and the manufacturing side. Such 

 are the preparation of flax and hemp fibre, the 

 canning of fruit, the drying of vegetables, basket- 

 making, the utilization of timber waste, the growth 



