SUGAR BEET 337 



arranged for as much as 1700 acres, but this business was dis- 

 continued for reasons quite apart from its intrinsic merits. 



In 1870 it was reported that Mr. Ruck, of Cricklade, grew 

 16 tons per acre of white Silesian sugar beet, and that Pro- 

 fessor Church, of Cirencester College, grew beets containing 

 from 12 to 13 J per cent, of sugar. 



This subject was not formally brought before the Council 

 until 1890, when the Chairman (Mr. C. W. Gray, M.P.) reported 

 upon a meeting which he had attended. 



In March, 1898, Colonel Victor Milward, M.P., again raised 

 the question, when he was supported by Mr. W. F. Lawrence, 

 M.P., who was connected with the sugar industry both in 

 England and the West Indies. A resolution was then passed 

 requesting the Board of Agriculture to superintend the 

 analysis and publish the results of experiments which the 

 Central Chamber proposed to carry out. At the next meeting 

 a sympathetic reply from the Board was reported, so a Com- 

 mittee was appointed to confer with the Board and to take 

 the necessary steps to carry out the experiments. This Com- 

 mittee reported in May, 1899, giving information as to seventy - 

 seven plots in thirty counties in the United Kingdom, and 

 expressing satisfaction with the results. The following 

 December the Committee were re-appointed " to watch the 

 progress of sugar beet as a root crop in the United Kingdom 

 and to report thereon from time to time." In June, 1901, an. 

 exhaustive report was presented, giving particulars of twenty- 

 eight experiments on plots ranging from one to five acres. 

 The weights per acre, without tops, varied from 10 to 31 tons, 

 the average being 19 tons. The average sugar content was 

 just over 16 per cent. 



The Sugar Beet Committee sustained a severe loss in 1901 

 through the death of Colonel Milward, who was succeeded 

 in the chair, early in 1902, by the Earl of Denbigh. 



The Finance Act of 1901 imposed a Customs Duty of 4s. 2d. 

 per hundredweight on sugar, and it was hoped that this would 

 facilitate starting the new industry in this country. Lord 

 Denbigh therefore addressed a letter to the Chancellor of the 

 Exchequer asking if the Government intended to impose an 



