242 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[NoTOMBEB 1, 1898. 



as indicated in the first column, farmyard manure alone 

 gave an average of sixteen tons six hundredweight of roots ; 

 and the amount was raised to twenty-three tons sixteen 

 hundredweight by the addition of five hundred and fifty 

 pounds of nitrate of soda ; to twenty-two tons six hundred- 

 weight by four hundred pounds of salts of ammonia ; to 

 twenty-four tons eighteen hundredweight by two thousand 

 pounds of rape cake ; and to twenty-five tons two hundred- 

 weight by rape cake and salts of ammonia together. Thus 

 it is clear that by artificial means, as regards quantity, acre 

 for acre, our own farmers could produce double the amount 

 that either France or Germany have done in the past. 

 When we point out that the crops at Kotbamsted were not 

 grown with the purpose of using them in sugar-making, 

 the remarkable results given will appear still more worthy 

 of attention to those who hope to make the sugar industry 

 in England a means of resuscitating agricultural prosperity. 

 For direct application to practice in the growth of the crop 

 for sugar-making the amount of nitrogenous manures 

 used were too large, and the distances apart from plant to 

 plant were too great — conditions leading to over-luxuriance, 

 and to imperfect maturing of the individual plants. In 

 the face of all this it seems strange that the immense 

 quantity of sugar consumed in the British Isles should 

 reach us from abroad. Here are some figures relating to 

 sugar-producing colonies : — 



The value of sugar-beet roots depends not alone on the 

 percentage of sugar they contain, but also on what is called 

 the " co-efiicient of purity " of the juice. If the percentage 

 of dry matter in the juice were found to be sixteen, and 

 that of the sugar twelve, as indicated by the polariscope, 

 then the sugar would represent three-quarters, or seventy- 

 five per cent., of the dry substance. In the following 

 table is given Dr. Carl Stammer's data, in English terms, 

 as to the value per ton of roots of the different percentages 

 of sugar as shown at the head of the columns, each at the 

 six different degrees of purity of juice. 



And so the lesson to be learnt from this table is, How 

 great may be the difference in the value of the roots 

 according to their composition ! 



Here is a table by M. Georges, showing the value per 

 ton of roots for each percentage of sugar in the roots from 

 thirteen down to seven : — 



A noticeable point in this table is the small proportion 

 of the total sugar in the roots that is obtained in the 

 manufacture; the amount being only 65-6 per cent., 

 with thirteen per cent, of sugar in the roots, and as 

 little as 5 5 -.5 per cent., with only seven per cent, in the 

 roots. 



One of the vital questions to consider in forming a 

 judgment as to whether success would attend an extended 

 growth of sugar-beet, and the establishment of factories 

 for the manufacture of sugar in this country is, at what 

 price of sugar is it probable that such an enterprise would 

 he profitable ? Mr. Stein estimates that four hundred 

 factories, each costing about fifty thousand pounds, would 

 supply all the sugar required for consumption in the British 

 Isles. Going into more detail he says : " A sugar factory 

 working forty thousand tons of roots, the crop of, say, three 

 thousand acres, would produce about five thousand (five 

 thousand two hundred) tons of sugar, and would cost to 

 erect about sixty thousand pounds." Giving a summary 

 balance sheet, he reckons there would be a profit of 

 over six per cent, on the sixty thousand pounds capital, 

 if the price of sugar were nine pounds per ton, of 

 fourteen and thi-ee-quarters per cent, if ten pounds, of 

 23-1 per cent, if eleven pounds, and of thirty-two per 

 cent, if twelve pounds per ton. The same authority 

 reckons the cost per acre of growing sugar-beet at ten 

 pounds, in return for which he will be able to turn out 

 fifteen tons of roots at eighteen shillings per ton delivered 

 to the factory, the roots themselves being estimated to 

 produce 13-3 per cent, of sugar at a cost price of nine 

 pounds per ton. 



In any undertaking of this kind, a serious warning is 

 afforded by the fate of Mr. James Duncan, who attempted 

 this branch of industry between the years 1869 and 1873, 

 at Lavenham, in Suffolk. It is said that with a require- 

 ment of at least thirty thousand tons of roots to work his 

 factory profitably, Mr. Duncan finally could only obtain 

 about seven thousand tons, due probably to the farmers 

 not sufficiently modifying their rotations to secure an 

 adequate supply of roots. Sir .John Lawes and Sir Henry 

 Gilbert point out that it would require about six thousand 

 acres, or more, according to the rotation adopted, to ensure 

 the necessary supply to the factory lu Mr. Stein's scheme, 

 and " certainly not a step should be taken towards the 

 establishment of a factory until the necessary supply of 

 roots had been assured." Also for climatic and other 

 reasons these observers think that, so far as the production 

 of the roots is concerned, it could only be a success over 

 limited areas, not Great Britain generally. Great caution 

 should be exercised in the choice of the localities, Norfolk 

 and Suffolk, it is alleged, having the most suitable climate, 

 and the soils should be of a medium character — neither too 

 heavy nor too light. 



* A Pamplilet — " The Growth of Sugar Beet and the Manufacture 

 of Sugar in the United Kingdom." 



