Sugar Beet in Poland. 



521 



eleven such unions established, only three of which were in 

 operation in 1897. In 1892 seven unions existed in England 

 with 33,64.8 members, and in 1894, there were nine unions 

 with 6,652 members. Since that date the decline of the 

 movement has been very rapid, and in 1897 there were only 

 two English unions, with a membership of 269. In Scotland, 

 however, the Ploughmen and Labourers' Union, which was 

 started in 1895 had 2,390 members in 1897. 



According to a report by Her Majesty's Consul-General at 

 Warsaw the estimated production in 

 sJetta Pofan'^^ '898 of sugar beet in the nine Govern- 



ments of Poland where beet is grown 

 was some 20 per cent, inferior to that of the previous year, 

 beet plantations having suffered in the past season, especially 

 at the time of drawing from the sudden cold weather and 

 snow which set in in October. In some districts work had 

 then to be abandoned, as the beet was frozen on the fields, 

 which caused considerable loss. In view of the partial failure 

 of last year's crop the pric^ of sugar began to go up, the 

 upward tendency of the market being very strong ; but this 

 did not continue long, as the Minister of Finance issued a 

 decree by which 1 60,000 tons of the compulsory reserve stock 

 was put on the market free of excise. The total area planted 

 with sugar beet in the nine Governments in 1898 was 115,9;! 

 acres, compared with 108,805 acres in the previous year ; 

 but the number of sugar factories remained unchanged at 43. 

 The estimated yield of sugar from the season of 1 898 was 

 2,107,007 cwts. The largest area under the crop is in the 

 Government of Warsaw, where 56,827 acres were planted in 

 1898 ; Lublin followed next with 18,238 acres. The number 

 of sugar factories in these two Governments was 20 and 7 

 respectively. 



