TODAY IN THE BEET FIELDS OF EUROPE

[Music] a trip was made in the fall of 1948 for the purpose of studying the sugar beet industry in the northern European countries in that section of Europe there are some 2 and 1/3 million acres of beets being raised the countries visited were England Belgium Netherlands Denmark Sweden American and British zones in Germany France and Ireland the trip actually starts from New York where we see the deep canyons of the business district of Manhattan Ireland from the Empire State Building leaving a prosperous energetic America a new b-36 army bomber flies around the top of the 102 storey building to remind us of the power of America and the new things to come the world is indeed a small place as it only takes 13 hours from the airport that LaGuardia field to England in one of the constellation planes it flies in the stratosphere at 15 to 18,000 feet across the Atlantic Ocean we dip down out of the clouds and see some of the rural sections of western England we arrived in England on defense of Britain days and there are some 55,000 people lined up to welcome us at Heathrow Airport west of London London has very interesting double-decker buses wagons and cars that make the downtown district of busy city we're 7 and 1/2 million people live we visit the world's oldest Agricultural Experiment Station established in England in 1835 the administration building is very old the rock symbolizes the establishment of the station by Sir John Laws among the many interesting experiments is one on the importance of manure to soil structure which has run for over 100 years note the improvement in the condition of the soil which received the organic fertilizer Boulter's were exceedingly bad and beet fields in england this year because of a cold spring which started the seed stocks to shoot in order to eliminate these in mechanical harvesting some farmers used a homemade destroyer which has two sets of blades that can be buried in height from the ground a John Deere model number 54 beef harvester performed very satisfactorily after a home a destroyer removes the thick heavy seed stocks of the beets in England it is necessary for the farmers to protect their grain very carefully because of the dampness and the wet weather practically all of the barley is put under sheds like these to await winter threshing the most popular harvester in England was the catch pole single roll harvester this machine is a double disc topper and puts the beets in small piles that are much like wind rows at right angles to the beet roll over 200 of these machines operated in 1948 an experimental catch pole machine employs a cart principle which dumps the beets at the ends of the field a harvester demonstration was held under the good auspices of the English crown a total of 24 different machines were shown many of them from other countries nearly 5000 people witnessed the demonstrations and there were many good machines in evidence this is a mint harvester which performed fairly well another French machine with a cart and the Morel harvester which is quite popular in France a two row Danish topper did a very acceptable job with the 24-inch diameter a sawed type plate as can be seen they topping is excellent this was pulled by 1/4 as was also the single row topper of the same make which did a very presentable job and has possibilities for the American farmer as can be seen by the good results in topping many other machines such as this robot harvester digging two rows at a time and also the one row machine scrolling the beat sprayer of dirt presented a very good idea of European harvesting English beet growers are insisting on mechanical harvesting but only about 2% of the beets in 1948 were so harvested they are determined however to keep up a good start in one respect however the British are ahead of Americans in handling beet top these two silos on Lord Townsend's estate show some very good evidence of proper handling of that valuable crop in fact many British farmers insist on a machine for topping the beets first in order to harvest that crop first many British farmers are not satisfied just working by daylight but works far into the Twilight in order to get the maximum tonnage harvested by the Machine typical England is build with rolling hills hedges and stone fences there are large estates such as the Duke of Bedford where herds of deer which represent the last of an almost extinct strain of Asiatic deer known as Pierre David play on the grassy slope we see a typical English country house with a thatched roof and surrounded by flowers on the way back to London and view some of the terrible effects of the bombing of England the hospital shown is just across the Thames River from the government buildings Parliament buildings with Westminster Abbey in the back a couple of hours by air and we are in Belgium where we see new handcuffing devices which are becoming quite popular with growers because they hold the tops cleanly as they're swept fall from the roof this is followed with a new-type spring action digger which permits the worker to dig the beets by hand more rapidly than the former - time for the hand tough beets are generally rather deeply crowned as shown here with a worker hurrying through on his bicycle to get to work faster tops always the first crop harvested are being gathered into a horse cart the belgians handle the tops very carefully and very rapidly after they are removed to conserve the maximum feed value the beet tops are then taken immediately to a large silo pit and unloaded part of the tops are kept for a year or until the next beet harvest rolls around and our treasured berry carefully in fact probably more than the beetroot for hundreds of years the Belgians have been known for their fine horses this is the champion stud in the show in Belgium in 1948 the bull and cow pulling a cart indicates the measures required to sustain operations the people use force and milk cow combinations since the Germans during their occupation of the country eliminated a lot of the better horses note the difficulty in handling such a team milk cows vegetable gardens are common in the neighborhood of small towns and cities the Belgian beef drawer contracts four to five acres each year and there are about 125 thousand acres of beets this year that elaborate 17 tons per acre here is a typical Belgian sugar factory nearly aged it is not necessary to point out that among other things the manure pits on the typical Belgian farm has been responsible for 1,000 years of maintenance of the farm fertility it is just a short distance from Belgium to Netherlands where we see the typical windmills pumping water and grinding grain as they have for centuries it has been said that the Lord made the earth but the Dutch made Holland this is quite typical of the spirit of the Dutch as shown in the neighborhood of Rotterdam where over 3,000 acres of green houses are established for growing tomatoes cucumbers grapes and even pears in the rather cold climate and short season much Commerce is carried on by means of barges in the hundreds of miles of canals in the Netherlands where the fruits of agriculture are carried to market while we were there the first ship load of Irish cattle were received from Ireland since the war and were driven through the streets of Rotterdam this occasioned an increase of 1 gram of meat per week for each Dutch person certainly a joyful occasion bicycles and more bicycles are the vehicle of transportation the farmers prize beat cops above all of their crops as it furnishes feed and fodder for their livestock because of the need for feed the beats are tough generally quite deep as shown here the Dutch feel that the best way to make good silage is to alternate layers of beet tops and clover hay a pit silo about 30 inches deep is dug and a layer of hay is placed over the bottom next come the top and note the good clean top shown by this farmer who wears the typical wooden shoes of the rural areas the cart of tops is driven right over the pit to assist in packing the silage and you can see the hay stack in the background which is utilized at the same time the tops are being spread uniformly over the pit when the silage is settled it is ordinarily about 10 feet deep the head of the Netherlands beat Institute talks with the farmer to get information about the high value of the beat cops and pover silence which is the basic raishin for fattening cattle on this farm another farmer shows silage which is a year old and points out the alternate layers of hay and beet tops that have packed together to form an excellent feed which is so highly prized they 116 thousand acres in the Netherlands there's a great deal of ham digging of beets accomplished with a two timed fork where the beets put in wind rows which are not disturbed after topping wet earth and dampness of the atmosphere cause difficulty in properly drying out beams for threshing they're placed in a cross staked arrangement covered with cheeves of grain we leave a typical windmill scene Netherlands at sundown to go to Denmark passing over the cloudy sky and looking down at helgeland on the Baltic Sea on our way to Copenhagen here a long line of Danish flags in the streets advertises that there is a huge British exposition showing the goods that Britain has to sell to Denmark we leave Copenhagen and see old windmills that are two and three hundred years old a typical old type farmyard which is built in a square with a cobblestone courtyard here the farmer keeps his livestock and his hay and also lives in the same set of buildings which in an early day served for protection from Marauders and robbers other thatched farmhouses bear out that they are warm and winter as well as cooler in the summer this one is quite old we move next to look at a famous castle built in the 1500s at fret ins burg which was the home of Danish kings for many years and was one of the most beautiful castles seen in Europe it is built on an island and has three moats around it to prevent attack the beautiful fountain in the courtyard is a duplicate of one taken in war with Sweden about 100 years ago the present King lives at Christiansburg and is guarded with very decorative soldiers as you can see by bus we cross a long bridge connecting two of the large Danish islands and go to La Land Island here most of the beats are raised and one horse generally is used in pulling beats because the Germans did not leave much power equipment the beats are received mostly at individual farm sightings and our hand troubles but here the beats are being handled with a more modern system a small railroad engine moves cars holding three or four tons of beats per load to the juice stations let's see how they look when we back them up a really step right along don't they tear samples are taken by a fork from the railroad car into a wicker basket and then the car is dumped by a hydraulic system into a carrier this moves the beats up into a pile where they can be picked up by a clamshell machine each farmer is required to take a definite proportion of his pulp back and that the factory forces are used to move the small cars for loading at other places where the beets are received on islands they are loaded from barges into the farmers wagon and still other places the farmer comes and gets his pulp directly the pressed pulp which contains about 10 percent dry matter is much prized by the Danish farmers who stored in pits at their farm we take to the air again for a 15-minute hop to Sweden Swedish flag flies over a people were tried to maintain neutrality in two world wars Swedes have long been noted as good mechanics and are endeavouring to build a new type harvesting machine which has a scroll that not only elevates the beach but rubs off dirt which might be clinging to the roof the puller points are outside of the tractor wheel and swing in and out with a beep role for guiding the machine has definite possibilities in Sweden only five of these machines have been built however and practically all of the beet harvest consists of digging by hand puffing by hand and forking both tops and beets into trailers and cars Hey not so fast mister this system the Swedes are determined to eliminate as far as possible the handling of the tops is considered first here we see the tops that are on paillards ready for elevating into the top of a barn here they are fed green to dairy cattle that are kept in the barn for seven months without any exercise rope nets are used to put in the bottom of the trailer for elevating the tops either into a pip silo or a barn law many of the beep receiving systems are quite modern the farmers drive their truck or cart onto a raised platform for unloading into a hopper that elevates the beats onto a steel belt to distribute them over flume other beats come in railroad cars and are handled through a wet hopper system into flume the beet pulp is then loaded back into the railroad cars and taken back to the farmer daily we travel by air again over clouds where we see an unusual rainbow caused by the refraction of light on ice particles the shadow of the plane is in the center on the clouds we see the beautiful city of Stockholm from the air which is built on 23 islands Stockholm from a high elevation is certainly a beautiful place and is the capital of Sweden the Town Hall with a large gold ball on the tower is a very characteristic architecture and unlike most of this old city is only 40 years old we apply next to Hamburg Germany and see the much bombed Airport and then on to Frankfurt which is now a city of about 750,000 people much larger than before the war in spite of the heavy bombing by American planes the city is about two-thirds destroyed and is a pitiful example of the results of war the population of western Germany controlled by American and British is twice that of before the war because of the exodus from the Russian zone the housing problems are beyond imagination with addition of millions of displaced persons we travel at high speed along one of Hitler's super highways we go around through the Western German area as far as we are allowed towards Berlin this sign is only one mile from the Russian lines the once beautiful city of Cassell with a population of over 300,000 was eighty percent destroyed by bombing the Germans have long been known for their beet seed production and the famous company of R&G have rebuilt in the British zone their former facilities with dr. Fritch Schneider at the head of it he is devoting a lot of time to the production of new strains of triploid beats which are characteristic in that they have six short leaves the scientists hold a lot of promise for these new strains because of their vigor in spite of hardships the Germans are endeavouring to develop a machine harvester such as this five roll beat lifter which carries the Harrow back of it to scrub off some of the dirt before the beats are thrown by hand into carp nope a simple puller point the beats are also topped by a to roll horse-drawn machine and they pops removed first as it is considered a separate prop wood-burning tractors haul beats as well as new horses to the factory receiving station and the beats are dumped through a tipping type of platform that drops the beats about 20 feet into a hopper then they are elevated up over flumes where they are stored for two or three days before slicing before the beeps are dumped in this manner however they are sampled with an unusual terror sampling device that is built into an overhead electric operated mechanism a large plunger pushes down from the top through the load of beats and with a hinge door on the bottom lifts up for a sample and puts it into a basket a tear sampler has a lot of sliced beets in it and includes ordinarily about 125 pounds we next travel to Paris France seeing the Seine River with the Eiffel Tower Paris has its traffic as well as any other city of five million people and for centuries has been one of the chief cities of Europe the famous Arc de Triomphe is in a park along the Seine River and tells the former strength and beauty of this great nation the famous Louvre is in the adjoining section of the park many oxen like these are used in farming in France these are hauling a cart by the beet sugar factory at both ends farmer is proud of the tractor which lifts three rows at a time in order to loosen them for the workers to pull into wind rows here the beats are loaded by this factory constructed loader into trucks for hauling to the factory the wagon is dumped and washed out by a stream of water in a wet hopper before going into the factory many of the beats at one factory then go by as small cars which hold about 300 pounds a distance of a mile to the factory which is in a river bottom the car is moved quite rapidly and the beats are worn before putting them into cars the front sugarbeet Institute held a colorful machinery demonstration where 11 countries were in attendance a guard of soldiers stand at attention at the main entrance to this demonstration field many machines were shown to save labour such as this clamshell which loads carts trucks and wagons out of the field the idea is to have the harvesters pile the beats midway in the field about 8,000 people were attracted by the demonstration which included some 18 different types of beet harvesters as well as a great many types and models of other equipment the various machines were operated and since most of them were in experimental stages they performed at least from an American viewpoint not too well the harvesting of beets mechanically in France is just getting started with all the interests and with all of the machines it appears that it is off to a good start to lessen the load of hand workers in the harvest some ideas might help American machine and still horse-drawn choppers such as this one were quite popular with the crowd and did an excellent job of removing the top the roots then could be lifted with a rather simple type of basket device machine none of the French machines performed as well as the American made John Deere which greatly attracted farmer the shortage of gasoline for tractor operations as shown by a wood-burning truck again we take to the air and pass over northern France where we see the fall colors of the orchards and trees of that beautiful country we pass across the English Channel through cottony clouds and see below the choppy water that connects England and France and pass rapidly on to Ireland to a typical Irish farmhouse with a stone wall the facts truth men throw the beats by hand into a small horse-drawn cart by which they are hauled out to the highway trucks here pick the beats up and take them to receiving station to the factory because of rain and wet soil many farmers have to pull the beats and put them into what are called clamps with the tops to the outside do you think this fellow is hitting them together long enough trucks that do custom hauling have the beats washed out directly into flumes or into conveyors we go to tipperary and travel by many beautiful highways seeing the very picturesque countryside along the streams in Ireland there are many castles that are seen throughout Ireland most of them not occupied since World War one following the struggle to drive out the land barons many of these castles are several hundred years old we see a lot of burrows such as this one with a chap on the keg of Guinness fella you suppose it could be or is it just domestic water for his home use there are many gypsies also in Ireland there are handy men men go from farm to farm repairing and sharpening tools as well as doing odd jobs we leave Ireland late in the evening as a cart of beet tops moves down the road bidding goodbye to Europe we are soon over the Atlantic Ocean seeing the reflection of the Rising Sun on the wings of the plane arriving in New York early in the morning we are reminded of all that America stands for and of the many things which we can well be proud of with our democratic way of life and the many things that men such as Lincoln have stood for we can well and enthusiastically sing our powerful melody America and be thankful for the progress which we have made in mechanical production in eliminating much of the hard labor in sugar beet fields of the United States and Canada it is in keeping with things accomplished in America in aviation we're huge bombers can carry tons of freight to Europe and back on nonstop flights [Music]