462 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION F. 



have now been ascertained astronomically with perfect accuracy. The present 

 proposals do not refer to these, but to the intermediate divisions of the week 

 and the month. Whilst in some countries the month was originally a period of 

 30 days, in others months of 29 and 30 days alternately were adopted in order 

 to conform as nearly as possible to the length of the moon's synodical period, 

 which is a little more than 29^ days. This rendered necessary the custom of 

 introducing an intercalary month, and the consequent confusion and abuse of this 

 practice was the raison d'etre of the Julian Reform. Julius Caesar adhered to 

 the grouping of the months in pairs, but added a day to each month except 

 February. Subsequent arbitrary alterations have deranged the symmetry of 

 the months. The arrangement of the months in four groups of three, corre- 

 sponding to the four seasons and the four quarters of the year would be at 

 once more scientific and more convenient. Such groups consisting of one month 

 of 31 days, and two of 30 days each, make up a year of 364 days, or 52 exact 

 weeks, the 365th day and the odd day in Leap Year being treated as days of 

 the year only and excluded from the weekly and monthly enumeration. Objec- 

 tions have been taken to the application of this principle to the week. 

 Although these seem to be founded on prejudice, or misconception, it is sug- 

 gested that in the first instance the reform should be confined to the scientific 

 readjustment of the months, to which no objection has been taken, and which 

 could easily be brought into operation by international agreement. 



Proposals have been made for converting the calendar months into a multiple 

 of weeks. It is impossible to carry out any symmetrical arrangement of this 

 nature, and no such arrangement is in any case possible unless the principle 

 of the dies non is applied also to the weeks. Some new grouping of the weeks 

 might be arranged if the reform be applied to the weeks, but in any case 

 ought not to be allowed to disturb the adjustment of the calendar month as 

 a twelfth fraction of the year. 



A brief explanation was given of a number of the statistical and other ad- 

 vantages which would result from the scientific readjustment of the monthly 

 calendar, and a device was described for securing the advantage of a perpetual 

 calendar without any interruption of the weekly succession of days. 



5. Economic Aspects of the Introduction and Establishment of a British 

 Beet-Sugar Industry. By Sigmund Stein. 



Great Britain is the greatest sugar consumer in the world. We imported last 

 year (1910) 1,745,129 tons of sugar, of which 1,303,319 tons were beet-sugar, 

 and 441,810 tons cane-sugar. We sent abroad last year £25,307,214 for sugar. 

 The question may well be asked whether we can keep this immense amount of 

 money in our country by producing the sugar ourselves. England distinguishes 

 herself by being the only country in Europe which does not produce a single 

 ounce of sugar herself. I have proved by over four thousand sugar-beet grow- 

 ing experiments, conducted in practically every county in the United Kingdom 

 in the last twenty consecutive years, that we can successfully grow sugar-beet 

 in these islands. The beet cultivation in Germany brought an increase on the 

 yield of all crops. The beet culture forced the farmer to adopt very deep plough- 

 ing, along with scientific farming and proper treatment of the soil both 

 chemically and physically. The ingenuity of the agricultural engineer invented 

 new implements and machinery for this new departure in agriculture. The 

 by-products and residue of the beet-sugar industry, called beet-pulp or ' slices,' 

 are a very valuable cattle-food by which the number of cattle could easily be 

 increased, also the fattening of cattle fostered. 



In Europe alone fifty millon tons of sugar-beet root are cropped per year. 

 Out of this vast quantity twenty-five million tons of sugar-beet pulp are* pro- 

 duced, which are all used for cattle-feeding. This enormous quantity of cattle- 

 food has been the means of considerably increasing the number of cattle on the 

 Continent. England has entirely given herself up to manufacture and neglected 

 agriculture, while Continental countries like Germany, where industry and manu- 

 facture have increased and improved at the same pace as ours, have riot neglected 

 agriculture. The question of employment is at the present moment a very press- 



