SUGAR BEET FACTS.
It should be generally known among farmers how very successfully sugar beet has been grown in England this year. Records have been shown me of light land yielding 12 tons to the acre with a sugar content up to as much as 22 per cent., and of Fen land yielding no less than 18 tons with a sugar content of 18 per cent. One particular farmer boasts of having produced 100 tons of neat sugar off his farms. As some of the best crops have been grown from English seed, and the factories are largely equipped with English machinery and worked with English labour, the crop may be described as a godsend. Nevertheless, the acreage under sugar beet has gone down by 47,000 and many people are afraid of a pro- gressive diminution. It seems to me that the decrease has teen due simply to misunderstandings and perhaps accidental losses in one indifferent season. It will be a real national loss if the factory owners allow the farmers to feel that they are taking excessive pro fits, W. BEIten THOMAS.
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