The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, AUGUST 22, 1885. THE LINSEED INDUSTRY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1382, 22 August 1885, Page 2

The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, AUGUST 22, 1885. THE LINSEED INDUSTRY.

We have frequently directed the attention of farmers to the desirability of sowing a few acres of linseed each, so as to provide work for the spinning machinery which is expected now to arrive daily. Not contented with what we iiad done in this direction, a gentleman, who appears to take great interest in the matter and to possess a special knowledge of it, has written many letters on the same subject. The Directors of the Linseed Company have also done their share. They have stuck to the industry after it had been dropped by others, and they have also offered to guarantee that they will purchase both straw and seed from anyone who grows linseed at a remunerative price. Yet, notwithstanding all this, farmers have not, we are informed, taken the industry in hand as (hey ought, and the acreage that will be under linseed in this district this year will not be equal to what was expected. We cannot undeistand this. Grain growing has been a failure for the past year or two : the other brunches of agricultural industry do not look very bright. All these, circumstances might naturally be expected to induce farmers to give an industry which promises fair profits a trial, yet they hesitate to do so. Why they do so is inexplicable. There can be no doubt but it would pay if properly attended to. Messrs F. Singer and Co., of the New Zealand Oil Mills, have supplied the following information to the Government: — “Dunedin, sth May, 1885. “ Sir, —In reply to your enquiries re use made of our land granted to us for encouragement of the oil and oilcake industry, as also of everything relating to general cultivation of oil-seed in Otago and Southland, we now take the liberty of sending you the following answers : “ 1. Of the 1,500 acres granted, about 600 acres are steep gullies and unfit for ploughing : of the remaining 900 we have 530 acres under linseed now cut and stacked, expecting about 10 bushels per acre ; fifty acres under rape not matured yet; 150 acres under turnips ; and the balance partly broken up and partly second furrow. We have erected a sub stantial house, a substantial stable for thirty horses, and store-rooms ; have put up about twelve miles of barb-wire fencing, and ditched between 6CO and 700 chains; also made eight large culverts, costing over £IOO, so as to connect the various paddocks. In all we have spent, up till now, close on £4,000, having had such confidence in the future results; and, although disappointed in this year’s crop, we hardly had any right to expect more, considering the first sod was turned not two years ago, the land being not rotten, and sour, besides the bad seasons we have had. Still, even at a failure of ten bushels per acre of linseed, you will see by the following figures that it pays better than 40 bushels of oats, namely; Say linseed, sowing fifteen pounds per acre, cost Is 3d ; freight to Dunedin, ten bushels at 6d, 5s : total, 6s 3d. All the other labor is the same as oats, Oats, sowing seed, three bushels at Is 6d, 4s 6d ; freight on 40 bushels at 3d, 10s : total, 14s 6d. Yield linseed, 10 bushels at 5s 6d cash, without carrying, £2 15s; hss expenses above, 6s 3d ; result, £2 9s 9d. Yield

oats, forty bushels at Is 6J ; £3 ; less expenses besides carrying, 14s 6J : total £2 6s 6d. But we fully expect next season to get an average crop, the land being now so much better. “2. Be how much was grown in the province from January, 1884, to January, 1885. We cannot give you the exact amount of acres, but wehave kept an account of seed received ; for, unfortunately not sufficient to keep on factory for three months, going even at single shift of twelve men, instead of treble shift of forty. We received 6,200 bushels, and at an average yield of twenty-five bushels per acre, there should have been 248 acres under crop, and about 40 acres under rape seed. We can point you out several farmers who have got from forty to forty-three bushels per acre, some thirty to forty, and some from ten to twenty. A good ground well worked, and a fair season, we do not consider forty bushels anything to speak about. In fact, Mr Stronach, of the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, after satisfying himself, asked us for a written guarantee to purchase all the linseed and rape-seed he can get at 5s 6d per bushel, has sent circulars to all their constitutents urging them to grow seed. “Be oilcake,—Asa food, you will be aware it is unsurpassed, but also as a manure from the droppings, it is more than valuable, and repays itself with interest ; in fact, there is no large company or runholder who has not used it, and we have exported large quantities to Australia. Be oil.—We certainly have great difficulty in competing against Home adulteration. We also enclose an article of the Tuapeka Times, to show the opinion of our land from other sources ; and now, thanking you again for the trouble you have taken in our affairs, —Wehave, eta, “ F. Singer and Co. ‘ 1 To the Chief Commissioner of Lands, Dunedin.” We wish farmers would read this letter carefully and reflect upon it. They will see from it that Messrs Singer and Co. calculate only on the value of the seed, and make no allowance whatsoever for the straw. Leaving the straw out of the question, and calculating on the basis of 10 bushels of seed to the acre—which is & miserable yield—they point out that it is more profitable than a crop of oats yielding 40 bushels to the acre. If such is true a crop of linseed must be very profitable in this district. In addition to the seed, which may be reasonably expected to yield 30 bushels to the acre, or three times what Messrs Singer and Co. made the basis of their calculations, growers of linseed are offered a guarantee ot £3 per ton for straw. Every acre of land is supposed to yield at least two tons of straw, so that in reality growers of in this district are offered a guarantee of £6 per acio at the lowest Really, to say it would not pay in the face of Messrs Singer and Co.’s letter appears to us to be very absurd. It is evident Messrs Singer and Co. believe in it, or else they would not spend £4OOO on making the land leased by them from the Government suitable for its cultivation. As regards the prospects of the local linseed factory we think they are very good, provided the farmers can be got to grow the linseed. A protective duty lias been placed on binding twine, and this will enable the factory to produce twine much cheaper than it can be imported. Tin’s must lead to the conclusion that the industry must become profitable, and (he only question now is—will the farmers grow the linseed ? We expect they will in the course of time ; hut the danger is that in the meantime they will let the Company fall through on account of not having sufficient work for the machinery. We warn farmers of this. It is not too late yet to sow linseed, and they ought to think seriously of it, and take steps to assist an industry which must eventually prove very beneficial to themselves as well as to the whole district.