WILL IT PAY?'

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1058, 22 February 1911, Page 8

WILL IT PAY?'

BEST. GROWING;. •'/; r - iXvAs'tlio sugar l "bcet;"<iucstiob.*"T7lH7pro. Vbably' tie" beJoro'.New. Zealand/.farmers jV'forsonio time to, come, it is that -, sytho.in(ns y tho.in(n on.the land should hear nil )( i aides of the question.- Some peopto-havo ■ E advocated • beet growing-advocated it |j p others aro dubious; and-somo kjaro emphatically apposed to it. Of. the ' h opponents.of tfco scfiemo fe)v have moro '-dicided' views.on the subject than an ~ 'agricultural authority with .whom a f representative recently had an t. ; interview. ■..■•, .•..•.' \ ,i ; ; ..' i I ■ -"A" tfild cat scheme," he called the -proposals to commence the industry, here. k'T'ir.ls'very noticeable," he continued, [ p'fthatimany of the peoplo who are talk- » tog in favour of sugar.beet. growing ? f: are Northern-Hemisphere men. ' R are very different in this hemisphere, to.,' b via! they are on the "other, sido of the ■* « line. '.This'is'the finest country, in the j> ;, world for stock-raising and dairying, in i?; the ndrth it takes a big percentage of the J T returmf from stock to pay for their keep f ir and the'labour,to attend them. .Labour « V in Nov, Zealand is not a great cpnsideraI -don—sot abig item compared with (say) f , England.. There stock is housed, and i ;' thoy have to have feed taken to them. I it' Here "the stock feed themselves... -r ■ .' i•" ■ ."There is a lot of- talk about sugar beet - v as an,adjunct to dairying,'but the dairy- t J'-' farmer, who werif in for' it'-,would be : \l throwiagaway A:certainty for an Vtt- 1 *'-. certainty. 'Ho would bo entering into a ■< f 'more apensivo lino of business, and tnk- J v'ving his step to a great extent in-tho 1 ii .dark, i The good dairy-farmer knows what i h : his land will carry, and what his cows ( St-'.will produce with something'reasonably ; h near accuracy. He knows ho has a ready ( Ir; market." He.knows' somowhero about f..- : ;-whatiprice he-will pfct for his produce i/ sin that market. And he knows his cheque, > :*is. waiting for him when the end of the i -month rolls round. We hav* to learna h .'great deal'moro of the beet business bc- ' vfore wejean say.all, that about it.'. The ¥' prospective grower-does not know his : V, market, ho does not know what return : f-ihe wiil get, and he does not know the instability of other sections of the indus- i f-J try. .'And. to know all those things is ■ "'essential to sonnd business. ■ ; >V'- r Dylthe people.in tho Northern Hem- "-/ isphefa the matter is approached in a ,V;di]rererit way. Take England, there they H-have their heavy expenfes to keep stock.. :vand tliey'have a regular, handy market <-for.Wet.'. In evJr.V'W.iy beet growing is - jjlmorp muted to,Enpland than to New ZcnIf the-'farmers in ,Ncw Zealand p'j: want;t6igo"iri for side'lines,* there; are 1 i"" thanv'mbre suitablftUincs to'him ['"';'. tb taie'up than beet growing.' The pr*- ■ [■ ' ijosalsin favour of beet prowinsr should f J-lit present bo weighed .very. vr.v caret'i iullyiby the farmers. It is better to p Jbo sure than sorry.".. . ..'■ ,