BEET SUGAR

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 249, 15 July 1920, Page 3

BEET SUGAR

AMERICAN AUTHORITY ON ITS GROWTH CULTIVATION BY CEASELESS HAND LABOUR ' t The cultivation of sugar beet and tho E manufacture of sugar therefrom in New , Zealand has been suggested on more than t one occasion, both as a commercial en- t terprise of much promise and ns a means of lowering the current price of cane f sugar. Taussig, an American author' c ity, in his book, "Some Aspects of the 1 Tariff Question," an official American c publication, says, in referring to tliß fl growing of sugar beet:— f "All tho manuals and pamphlets in- j slst on the .need of elaborate preparation, minute care, much labour directly in . the fields. The planting of the seed does indeed take place by drills, the plants coming up ■ in continuous • rows. But after this first operation, painstaking manual labour is called for. AVhen the young shoots come up, they need j first to be blocked, then thinned. 'Block- { ing' means, that most of the beets in the ! row are cut by a hoe, only small bunches being left, about ten inches apaTt. j These hunches are then thinned; every ' plant is pulled out by hand except one, « the largest and the healthiest. Great ' care should ho exercised in this work, ' nnd by careful selection all the inferior < plants should be removed. When thin- ] ning it is a good idea to give the ground : a- thorough hand-hoeing. Throughout « the growing period the beets must bo i cultivated, partly with a horse-drawn i cultivator, partly with a hand-hoe. The I ■ cultivator and the hoe should .be used ' alternately until the beets are too largo i for horse cultivation without injuring l them. * Hand labourers should continue | to go over the beet field, pulling the 1 weeds and grasses that may have persist- 1 ed. Essentially the same situation appears i when harvesting is reached. The beets- i may be first loosened by_ a plough and ( by a lifter, but each individual beet j must be pulled' out by hnnd. Then they ' are knocked together gently to remove 6 the adhering dirt. Finally they are 1 'topped,' that is, the neck and leaves are j cut off -with a large knife. The ■• re- ) moval of the tops is a tedious process, | which in Europe is performed by women ; and children. ; Constant supervision is ] necessary in this work.. i' j • ■ "No machinery has yet been dovised . that serves to dispense with tho large amount of hand labour called for. Several attempts have been mnde to construct a mechanical,device by_ which tho. beets can be topped,' thus saving a largo expense, and perhaps a successful device of tho kind may some dny bo invented.' So far as is known at the present time, this process.has not been successfully accomplished \v machinery, and the topping must still be dono by hand. In 1912 the Department's re- ; port a|Sin Jiad to confess that 'a Teal'.y successful beet topping nnd harvesting machine had vet to be devised, nnd that at present all the operations of pulling, topmng. and loading were done by'hand.' "It follows that.tho successful growing of sugar beet calls for a .largo amount of monotonous, unskilled labour. No small part of it is labour that can bo done by women and children, nnd tempts to their utilisation. Not only does the typical American farm and farm community lack the number of labourers required; the labour itself is of a kind distasteful to the farmers. Thinning and weeding by hand whilst on one's knees is not a work or a posture agree- • nble to the average American farmer. Bending over the rows and crawling along them on one's hands and knees all day long are things that the contracting farmer is sure to object to as drudgery. Our farmers ride on their' stirring ploughs, cultivators, and other implements. As was remarked by one witness at a tariff hearing, the thinning and topping of tho beets it is pretty . hard to get our American fellows to do. and they prefer to hire the lnbour and nay for it. . . Almost everywhere in the beet-sugar districts we find, .labourers who are._emplo.ved. and contracted .for in . gangs; an inferior class which is utilised by a superior. The agricultural labourers in the beet fields are usually a very different set from the farmers. On the Pacific slope they are Chinese or Janan. e.*e, except in Southern California, where the Mexicans are near at hand. • Most of the work is done by Japanese, under contract, there'being usually a head con-trac-or. a sort of sweater, ■ who undertakes to furnish' the men. In recent years Hindus (brought from British Columbia) have also appeared in tlie. ' beet fields of California. In .Colorado immigrants from old Mexico competo with New Mexicans; Russians, and Jap-, nncse. Indians from_ the reservations have been employed in Colorado. At one time convict labour was used in Nebraska. In some parts of Colorado, Montana, and at the beet fields of tho Bingle in Kansas, refugees from German colonies established long ago in Eussia are employed. In Michigan the main labour supply comes from the Polish and Bohemian population of Cleveland, Buffalo, and Pittsburgh. Tha sugar manufacturers who buy the beets . play a large part in bringing this' labour into the fields. . Indeed, they play a large part in every phase of the industry,, on its agricultural as well as its' manufacturing side.. They supply seed, give the farmer elaborate'instructions on method of cultivation, employ super-, visbrs to visit the farms nnd to spur the farmers to the needed minute care; of necessity they test the beets at. thn factory, and pay according to the sucnr content. . . . iMie variety of beet suitable for . sugatvniaking flourishes in a cool climate,, but needs plenty of sun. Abundance of sunshine is necessary to the highest development of sugar in tho beet. Other things being equal, it may be said that the richness of the beet will be proportional to the amount—not the sunshine.' Evidently the cooi region of cloudless sky in the arid west meets this condition perfectly,'-' possibilities!™ industry A MINISTERIAL _ STATEMENT. An interesting statement on the question of a Government subsidy for vho production of beet sugar in New Zealand was majje by the Minister of Agriculture. yesterday _ The statement of the Minister ran as follows :— "It has been proved that sugar beets containing a satisfactory percentage of sugar can be grown in the Dominion, but it is estimated that the product of about 3000 acres, of good land would be required to supply the raw material for a, single beet-sugar factory. The expense of erecting and equipping a factory would be very heavy at present. In order to establish the industry in New Zealand it would therefore be necessary to be assured that 3000 acres of beet would be grown in one locality, and that the capital required for the factory would bo provided. A bonus of _d. per pound on the first 1000 tons of sugar produced from beet root or sorghum grown in New Zen-, land was offered in tho Beetroot Sugar Act of 1881, and is still available, and it is not considered necessary to provide lor further subsidising the industry at present. Special -inquiries are in hand at present as to tho latest available information regarding the plant, etc., necessary for tho manufacture of beetsugar." ■