POTATOES AND ALCOHOL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8199, 1 August 1906, Page 3

POTATOES AND ALCOHOL.

MR SANDERS SPENCER'S vieWs.

(Oonoluded.) I a.A fearful that yon will have considered that 1 have. given you an large dose of introduction, ;and have left but little time to draw oonolusious. It may be bc; my excuse if one be nee led, is that the use of denatured alcohol for gen oral purposes and its manufacture from farm prod..ots have not been very generally considered by farmers or even thoso who were sup posed to be more directly interested in the question. In proof ot this I might state that although fortytwo wituessue wtre examined by the Departmental oomn<iite9 on Alcoho) not one siugie farmer was called upon *o give evidence. It is true that one, Dr. Hiuehcliff, Agricul tural Inspector to the Department of Agriculture aud 'lechnicul Education, was calltd aud asked a number of queslious as to the growth of potHtoeH in the various parts of Germany in which that tuber is very extensively grown aDd used for the manufacture of alcohol, but so far as 1 could see from ft hasty -reading of his evidence, he failed to visit exaotly those districts in which potatoes are most largely grown and con verted into alcohol. For instance, question 5658 by the Chairman: 'I understand that you have recently, on behalf of cbe Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland, luqnired into the sys-tem-in Germany of the manufacture of alcohol?—: Yea. Did you not visit any of the Eastern Provinces of the German Empire?—No, 1 did not. I visited Bavaria owing to the reason that their distilleries are very often oo operative, and it was though that if anything oame of this industry in Ireland, probably the distilleries there would be co-operative and therefore it might be as well for me to nee the co-operative distilleries in Germany. That was my ;rea°on for going to Bavaria. evidence pointed to the fact that this special district was not one t of the chief potato-growing ones ■ in Germany. The same witness also stated that higher prioes than 29s per ton are always realised by Irish farmers for potatoes for other purposes, i.e. 1 than for manufacturing purposes Dr. Hinoholiff also estimated the Talue of distilling barley at 25s per quarter, then with 4s per quarter Joi? merely wetting and sprouting, etc*, or in making wet malt we have :29a ; per quarter. This is mentioned sinc'e a certain proportion of malt is needed for the conversion of tbe.iffitaroh in the potato. If we ' consider that potatoes of all sizes, those too small and too big and ugly for use save as pig food, are equally as good for distillation as the best, whilst even diseased potatoes, save those afflicted with dry xotjOaa be male to produce as much alcohol as the others, surely potato growers in the Fens would gladly wrpw any. quantity if they could realise anything approaching 30s per ton. \ Again, if our merchant brewers continue to force down the price of barley mach lower in order that they may be able to pay a dividend on their enormously over-capitalised baßinesses, an over capitalisation mainly due to two causes, the greatly inflated value plaoart on the plant and the goodwill when taken over from the sellers of the breweries, and the insane manner in which the direotors tumbled one over the other in the mad rush to purchase public-house properties for conversion'into tied houses—if the prices of b'arley-are forced down farther, then we shall have to turn our attention to the growth of multiple rowed barley—winter or spring

—so that we are able to grow some, 50 per cent more in balk, even if the quality is saob that it oab only be used for distilling or feeding purposes. This, like the utilisation of large quantities of potatoes for the manufacture of alcohol will reduce the quantity to be placed on the market, and thus tbe price must be forced up. Besides this if the potato growers in the Fenß can obtain at all tiires a price approaching £1 per ton for their chats, their injured, their overgrown, and their diseased potatoes, it must be a good thing for them. Tbey could still have for stock purposes, the distillery refuse which is valued at 5s per ton. Another effect gf the establishment i of this proposed industry would be the, attention of potatoes growers the production of kinds of potatoes sucb as the Champion, which would give increased yields in weight per acre and also a greater percentage of staicb. This again would materially reduce the weight of potatoes for consumption purposes, and thus help to render the growth of edible potatoes more profitable. In France attempts are already being made in the production of a potato giving a better yield, as is shown by tbe following extract from 'Farm, Field' and Fireside.' Some accounts of tbo experiments carried out in Franco with a sp°cies of tuber of tbe potato -family have already appeared in these columns. Ibis tuber, originally obtained from Uruguay, was cultivated experimentally by M. LaberVerie, and pio3uced in lc)01 several distinct varieties, one of which, tbe violet type, attracted much attention, and gave promise of proving a useful edible variety, yielding heavily and being entirely resistant to disease. Tbe cultivation of the different varieties has been continued under very careful supervision, and it may be noted that the varieties, as well £s the original type, appear very susceptible to cultivation, and rapidly improve when grown in fertile soils. The violet variety now resembles externally the European potato, but the yield appears <o be from 30 per cent to 100 rer cent greater on muist or wet land. An attempt has been made to identify this variety with the Geante blue potflio, but M. Labergerio points outybat, apart from its large yield an& resistance to disease, the Solanum commersoni (violet) commonly produces tubers above tfie •ground, that its fruit differs in •shape, and that it has in numerous

instances reverted to the primitive type. Besides the violet type there aije now some thirty other varieties produced from the wild plant, bob- thbse Bre, however, Dot at present fixed.