THE PROBLEM OF SUGAR BEET.*
Tins is essentially a judicial book. The author is himself under no illusions. He does not preach a gospel ; he does not try to make converts ; be merely sets down as fairly as may be a long string of facts and deductions and asks his reader to judge for himself. Is it possible that sugar beet is to be hailed as the saviour of the countryside of the future? Mr. Scott considers the problem in what we may perhaps call a spirit of sober doubt. Granted that the need of the day is the development of rural as opposed to urban industry, on what lines can beet offer opportunities which the cultivation of other crops—mangels, for instance—still denies us ? Hero at the outset we meet with one of the complications with which the problem of English rural industries con- fronts us at every turn. Even if the cultivation of beet beyond that of other crops can be proved to demand an increased supply of rural labour—a point which, incidentally, does seem to be fully proved by experience— what is the good of encouraging a large influx of labourers into the country unless you can house them properly P The problem of cheap and decent country lodging jumps up at once. But possibly the extra profits on beet, it may be asked, might be made to supply the capital or income which would be lost on the housing of the labourer. There you come to another point. You must not only show that large sums of money are being made out of beet on the Continent, where they have the advantage of fifty years' experience, but you must demonstrate conclusively that such profits can be made in England. Into the economics of a tariff we need not here enter; it is sufficient to ask whether, under conditions which, as regards the price of sugar, are highly unlikely to be upset by any political party in this country, English farmers would be readily attracted to the growing of beet in large quantities. Beet is not a crop which can be grown anyhow and anywhere. It needs very high cultivation. Then does it, as a highly cultivated crop, produce a correspondingly high return in cash profit? About £3 per acre seems to be the accepted answer—it may even prove to be less, comments Mr. Scott. That is not much. But even if it only gave a re- turn in cash profit of £1 an acre it might still be con- sidered an economically sound crop if it gave other advantages. It is a good cleaning crop, for instance, and as a field in which beet is grown needs deeper ploughing than is necessary for other crops there are other returns besides cash to be taken into account. Still, with all the advantages in cash and kind put before the farmer, what is likely to be his reply as regards the really essential point if beet is ever to make a new and a great industry in this country ? Would he supply the factory (if capital could be found to establish a factory) with sufficiently large and sufficiently stable quantities to make a commercial success possible P Here we are plainly met with an argument in a circle—the farmer might grow beet if the factory would pay him well, but the factory cannot pro- mise high or even good payment unless the farmer can promise so many tons per annum. And a successful factory needs, say, 25,000 tons per annum, which obviously needs a pretty large acreage under beet in the immediate neighbourhood of the factory, otherwise you are faced with increased cost in carriage. Once more, we are back again with the old problem of co-operation. And it is really with the consideration of the possibilities of co-operation that Mr. Scott sums up the whole problem of the beet industry. He urges that " those who have suitable land in the vicinity of a proposed factory should make the experiment of beet-growing for three or five years ; and that they should be supported by their landlords and by local opinion." Obviously a farmer contracting to supply so many tons of beet per annum needs security of tenure. If the farmer can get a good price—not less than 20s. f. o.r.—the conclusion seems to be that it will pay him to grow beet.
• Sugar 130.1: Some Pacts and some Illusions. By "Home Counties " (3, W. Robertson Scott). London : Horace COL [eW. not.] But that depends on the ability of the factory to pay the price, and Mr. Scott is less hopeful of the factory making the• large profits which might attract capital. If we can sum up. the prospects of the factory, it would perhaps be in terms of the farm—that they are to be sought for in kind rather their• in cash, i.e., in the increased general prosperity of the whole countryside. But profits of that kind, as regards rural economics, may very well be some of the best worth having in the world, and there we must leave the problem to be settled by experience. We ought, however, to add, as regards Mr. Scott's book, that it is much more than a review of the question of beet-growing: as a problem of rural economy ; it is a monograph of the beet, considered from almost every conceivable point of view. We may instance as a most interesting piece of writing the description in the second chapter of the Hollandia beet factory near Rotterdam actually at work.
Previous page
