The Cultivation of Sugar BeeL 
449 
whilst in France it was upwards of 3,000,000/. The question 
as to the general suitability of our climate to the profitable 
growth of sugar-beet is one that can be settled by more extensive 
trials, and Dr. Schack-Sommer reports that this season the crop 
is being grown by upwards of fifty farmers in Ireland, in twenty 
different counties. The maintenance of dairy-stock, and of cattle 
generally, in association with the cultivation of sugar-beet may be 
regarded as a point in favour of the latter ; nor is it likely that 
a more widespread activity in connection with a crop, the culture 
of which is based upon the soundest scientific principles, could 
exercise other than a salutary educational influence upon those 
concerned in its management. How readily the crop responds to 
improved methods of cultivation is shown by the circumstance that 
whilst in 1850-51 the officially declared yield of sugar in Germany 
was only 6'66 per cent, of the weight of the roots, in 1887-88 it 
had risen to 13 '08 per cent. The more sanguine advocates of the 
cultivation of sugar-beet in England point, moreover, to the effect 
which the development of the sugar industry would have in increas- 
ing the demand for mechanical appliances both upon the farm and in 
the factory. 
That there is a home market for beet-sugar, if it could be profit- 
ably produced in this country, appears to be evident from the fact 
that, according to the Board of Trade Returns, the total importa- 
tion of sugar into the United Kingdom in 1889 amounted to 
1,328,374 tons, of which 856,279 tons were beet-sugar, and 472,095 
tons cane-sugar. 
For the period of five months ended May 31 in each of the 
last three years our imports of refined beet-sugar have been as 
follows, the " other countries " comprising Holland, Belgium, the 
United States, and Russia : — 
1888 1889 1893 
Cwt. Cwt. Cwt. 
From Germanv . . 1,303,261 2,073,177 2,127,564 
„ France " . . 369,492 603,984 1,158,920 
„ other countries 810.404 1,119,351 821,068 
Total . . . 2,483,157 3,796,512 4,107,552 
During the first five months of the years named the United 
Kingdom has also imported from Germany and France the follow- 
ing quantities of unrefined beet-sugar : — ■ 
1883 1889 18S0 
Cwt. Cwt. Cwt. 
From Germain- . . 1,585,829 2,904,619 3,054,124 
„ France" . . 2,070 88,510 777,246 
These figures indicate that Germany and, more especially, France 
are increasing their exports of beet-sugar to this country. 
VOL. I. T. S. — 2 O G 
