Slujar-Boet Cultivation in Auitria. 
327 
cultivation in the United Kingdom. It is iindeuiabla that 
equally good sugar-beets can be raised in England as on the Con- 
tinent; and if countries like Holland, Belgium, and Northern 
France, with climates very similar to our own, can grow beet 
successfully, there appears no valid reason from the agricultural 
point of view why we should not liave home-grown sugar. The 
crux is, Can we grow it at a profit, in view of the competition 
of bounty-fed sugar from abroad ? This it would be foreign 
to my present purpose to discuss. Moreover, the question of 
bounties is one of higli complication, and a recent attempt by 
our Government to deal with it by an International Convention 
met with disastrous failure. 
The augmented consumption of sugar by the people, the re- 
markable changes in its countries of origin, and the extraordinary 
increase in the production of beet sugar as compared with that 
from cane, are all facts of extreme economic importance. It is 
not perhaps generally recognised that whereas thirty years ago 
beet sugar only represented about one-fifth of the total produc- 
tion of the world, it now represents more than a half. The 
subjoined table ' shows this very strikingly, though it must be 
stated that 1889-90 was an exceptionally favourable year for 
beet-roots : — 
The World's Produotioii of Siujar during the last seven Years. 
Year 
Beet sugar 
Cane sugar 
Total production 
Tons 
Tous 
Tous 
]883-188-t 
2,361,000 
2,323,000 
4,684,000 
1884-1885 
2,516,000 
2,351,000 
4,897,000 
1885-1886 
2,220,000 
2,340,000 
4,560,000 
188()-1S87 
2,730,000 
2,345,000 
5,075,000 
1887-1888 
2,452,000 
2,470,000 
4,922,000 
1888-1889 
2,705,000 
2,280,000 
5,045,000 
1889-1890 
3,500,000 
2,278,000 
5,778,000 
It is seen from the above table that the production of cane 
sugar has remained stationary or even diminished during the 
last septennial period, while the production of beet sugar has 
greatly increased. 
Austria is the second largest producer of beet sugar in the 
world. The subjoined summary shows in tabular form the 
figures for the different continental countries for the last four com- 
pleted years or " campaigns," and foi- the present campaign of 
1890-1, as estimated by the well-known expert, Mr. F. 0. 
Licht of Magdeburg, and is self explanatory. 
' La Sucrcrie Itidlghie, March 11, 1890, p. 232. 
