INSULAR BEET
The politics of sugar beet are likely to flutter the dove-cotes. There is also a botanic difficulty that is troubling our men of science. When the industry was started little or no research work was instituted because it was held that the Continent could supply us with all our information, the more so that the first factory was built under Dutch management. It has since been found, to everyone's surprise, that Continental experience is little guide. Some of the artificial manures have acted in an entirely unfamiliar manner, sometimes entirely reversing French and Dutch experience. So at this late date research work has .been. set on foot ; and the Rothamsted experts are growing busy. The job is entirely congenial, . for the institute was _first founded for the study of the soil, was the source and origin of the artificial fertilizer; and above this the deep penetrating root of the sugar beet plant (which is more parsnip than beet) exerts a peculiar influence on the subsoil. Further, the plant. makes so much leaf that it has been described as one of the greatest manu- facturers of sunlight in the plant world. One statistical detail in English experience has the advantage of round numbers. An East Anglian acre produced just a ton of refined sugar.
W. BEACH Thomas.
Previous page
