THECUBAREVIEW 35 



EUROPEAN SUGAR PRODUCTION AND THE WAR. 



The following is a comprehensive statement of the sugar production in the European war 

 zone, made up by Willett «t Gray of New York: 



Ai/s/ria.— Production 1913-14, 1,710,000 tons. Sowings 1914-15, 440,000 hectares. Little 

 sugar is produced near the Russian border. Galicia contains 2 factories and Bukowina 3. 

 Hungary, further south, contains 32 factories. Bosnia and Salvonia each contain 1 factory. 

 The other 1S8 factories are located mostly in Bohemia and other western sections bordering 

 Germany. 



Belgium. —Froduction 1913-14, 230,000 tons sugar. Sowings 1914-15, 54,000 hectares. 

 Liege province is the second largest sugar producer in the country, growing about one-quarter 

 of the cro]). Brabant jirovince, containing Brussels, is the next largest, being a slightly 

 smaller producer than Liege. About one-third of the crop is produced in Hainaut, south of 

 Brussels, on the French border. Namur and the other provinces produce but little sugar. 



Bulgnrin. — Production 1913-14, 7,800 tons sugar. Sowings 1914-15, 10,000 hectares. 

 Bulgaria has 2 beet factories. 



Fra//cc.— Production 1913-14, 800,000 tons sugar. Sowings 1914-15, 205,000 hectares 

 (one hectare is 2.47 acres). Almost all sugar is produced in the departments lying between 

 the Belgian frontier and Paris. Several of the largest producers border on Belgium. Little 

 sugar is produced on the Franco-German border. 



Gennauy. — ^Production 1913-14, 2,738,000 tons sugar. Sowings 1914-15, 550,000 hectares. 

 Alsace, Lorraine and Baden produce little sugar, but Rhineland, which borders on Belgium, 

 has about 18,000 hectares in beets this year, and last year produced 86,792 tons sugar. 



The four districts of Prussia, bordering on Russia, are large producers of sugar. The 

 sowings in East and West Prussia totalled 35,165 hectares, in Posen 68,803 hectares, and in 

 Silesia 80,828 hectares, a total of 184,796 hectares, or about a third of the German crop thus 

 borders on Russia. Each fall it is customary to bring large numbers of Russians into these 

 districts to work in the beets. West of Posen is Brandenburg, containing Berlin, where 

 23,360 hectares were planted this year. 



The other districts producing large quantities of sugar are Pomerania and Mecklenburg, 

 on the Baltic Sea, the Province of Saxony, in which is Magdeburg, growing 124,124 hectares, 

 and Hanover, Brunswick and Anhalt. All these are in the center of the country. The 

 Kingdom of Saxony and other States and Provinces of the Empire produce small amounts 



//oHom/.— Production 1913-14, 230,000 tons sugar. Sowings 1914-15, 60,000 hectares. 

 North Brabant, which stretches along most of the Belgian border, conatins 16 of the 28 

 factories of Holland. Limburg contains none, and there are but 4 other factories near the 

 German border. 



Italy.— Production 1913-14, 327,800 tons sugar. Sowings 1914-15, 38,600 hectares. 

 Of its 39 factories 9 are located in the old Province of Venice, on which borders Austria, and 

 2 in Lombardy, which borders on Austria and Switzerland; 15 are in Eimilia, the next province 

 south of these. 



ieo«/Ma/(ia.— Production 1913-14, 32,000 tons sugar. Sowings 1914-15, 20,000 hectares. 

 Roumania has 5 factories. 



i^wssia.— Production 1913-14, 1,750,000 tons sugar. Sowings 1914-15, 840,000 hectares' 

 The sowings in Poland constutute about a tenth of these, those in Podolia and Volhynie 

 on the Gaiician (Austrian) border, about a fourth, and Kief adjoining these latter, inland' 

 another fourth. 



Servia. — Production 1913-14, 6,500 tons sugar. Sowings 1914-15, 9,000 hectares. Servia 

 has only 2 beet sugar factories. 



The I ntertmtional Sugar Journal of London, surveying the beet sugar fields of Europe 

 and considering the present and future ravages of the war, sums up the situation as follows: 



"The effect of the war on the beet sugar industry is still largely a matter of surmise; that 

 the coming beet campaign in Europe will be of very restricted dimensions is a foregone con- 

 clusion. But whether there will be any at all in the principal countries concerned is still 

 hard to say. Belgium, being overrun by the German hordes may be ruled out at once, and 

 as for France, since the German invasion has ravaged just those areas where the French beet 

 sugar industry chiefly flourishes, the actual damage to the fields will preclude any hope of 

 a remunerative harvest. Even, however, were the beets left intact, it is highly improbable 

 that there will be many hands available to pull them when the harvest time comes, as even 

 the women will be disinchned to go into the fields and do agricultural work so long as patrols 

 of the enemy are known to be about. We must therefore assume that even if the French 

 do succeed in saving a portion of their fine beet crop, it will not even suffice to meet home 

 requirements. 



"As for Germany, it is impossible to say how far the Russian invasion will affect the beet 

 areas within the next six weeks; the latter so far rnaj^be j^ssumed to be intact save those 



