20 PROGRESS IN OTHEB COUNTRIES 



One other point in connection with agricultural 

 progress in Germany must be mentioned, and this is 

 the progress of the sugar beet industry. The area 

 under sugar beet in Germany before the war was 

 about 1,500,000 acres, or less than 2 per cent, of the 

 total cultivated land. Even in the districts where it 

 is most cultivated it does not occupy more than 

 10 per cent, of the cultivated land. Judged by the 

 extent of cultivation, therefore, it might be deemed 

 to be unimportant ; but from other points of view its 

 importance is emphasised by all impartial observers. 

 In the first place, it produces the greatest amount of 

 human food, yielding five times as much as rye, the 

 most prolific cereal, and twice as much as potatoes 

 from the same area of land ; while the residues of 

 sugar-making are extensively used in animal feeding, 

 with the result that animal husbandry has flourished 

 wherever sugar beet is grown . Further, it necessitates 

 deep cultivation and heavy manuring, with most 

 beneficial results to succeeding crops. As regards 

 labour, it employs a large number of hands in pro- 

 ducing the crop, and the factory work gives consider- 

 able employment during the winter when the demand 

 for field labour falls off. Last, but not least, it exer- 

 cises a very beneficial educative effect on all branches 

 of the surrounding agricultural industry. This is 

 due not only to the intensive and intelligent cultiva- 

 tion necessary to the successful production of beets, 

 but also to the knowledge of scientific possibilities 

 and processes which has been brought to the atten- 



