BEETROOT'S GAR.

Waikato Argus, Volume I, Issue 3, 16 July 1896, Page 7

BEETROOT'S GAR.

The analyses of virions lots of sugar-beet .grown at the late Mr H. S. Tiffen s Greenmeadowos farm this year are now to hand from the Departmentof Agriculture. They are of more than ordinary interest, for in thiee instances the roots weie grown from both imported and locallysaved seed. The report states that they were iu excellent condition, firm and well shaped, and favourable to good yields of eugar. The imported seeds gave the foiowing results, the first column being the varietv, the second the average weight of the roots, and the third the percentage of

K ion winzieoeu .. .. “ These results are not nearly so good as those previously obtained at Greenmeadows, and if we accept the Californian standard of 12 per cent, the yield of sugar is not payable. Whether this is due to the season or not we cannot say. The comparative results of imported and locally-saved seeds are as follows :

I • - It will be seen that in the two tables tlio yield from imported seeds ate differently stated. For that we cannot account, except that in the first instance roots of all sizes were tested to get at an average, while m the second analysis care was taken to select roots from imported seeds of the same size as those from locallygrown seed. This result bears out the Californian experience, that it pays better to import the seed from firms like "V ilmoriu’s, who make it their business to grow only for seed, than to use seed ;locally raised. Mr Tiffen, we believe, gave away many lots of seed, so that the suitableness of the different parts of Hawke’s Bay for beet culture might be | -tested. We do not know whether any of ', those who planted experimental plots sent roots for analysis, but if they have done so 'we should like to have the results for publication. It is very possible that much better results might be obtained elsewhere. For instance, the very rich soil of Greenmeadows may tend to throw lax-ge roots, so reducing the percentage of sugar to weight, or the proximity of the farm to the sea may be on favourable to a large yield of susar. We do not say that such is the case, but we are informed that in France land very near he sea, and iU ject to salt vapors, is not deemed suitable for beet culture. We see by our exchanges that in Victo.iia a practical effort to test the sugarbeet industry is being made. A beoi sugar company has been formed m Maffra, and shares are selling so rapidlv that it is hoped before long to make a start with the works. Mr M‘Lean, who represents the district in the Victorian Assembly, is interesting himself very much in the proposed industry, and he recently gave a Press representative some information as to its prospects. The site secured at Maffra for the company’s operations, he said, was close to the railway station, and was surrounded, within a radius of ten miles, by from GO,OOO to 80,000 acres of magnificent beet land, quite sufficient to supply the whole colony with sugar, if necessary. The railways would bring the beets from three different directions to the factory at a small cost. The land had been proved by actual tests to be suitable for the growth of beets of the proper quality, beets having been grown there during the last twenty years for feeding stock, and the crops, in most cases, being extremely heavy. Last season seventeen plots of beets were planted within a radius of eight miles round the factory site, and gave the satisfactory average of 14*12 per cent, of saccharine, which •would have been much higher if better varieties of seed had been used. -Vs to whether it was necessary for farmers to have had any lengthened experience in beet cultivation in "order to grow it sucMr McLean saict it Wouid of course, be desirable, but as the farmers would be bound by contract to cultivate their land in accordance with the directions of the company's expert, who would visit the farms at regular intervals to give the necessary instructions, there would be

no need for apprehension as to the result. Moreover, he said, the Mafira landowners were quite prepared to offer such inducements, on the share principle, to cultivators as would secure the services of some of the best farmers in the colony. He pointed out further that when a factory was established at Watsonville, in California. the farmers had no previous experience in beet culture, and yet their average net profit on the'first year’s operations was equal to £l3 He 4d per acre. The I industry when firmly established would, : in Mr McLean’s opinion, “ improve our I methods of agriculture, give a great I stimulus to the dairying industry, furnish ; remunerative employment to hundreds of j families, enhance the value of land, and 1 keep for circulation in our own colony i large sums of money that are now sent away for the purchase of sugar. It should also, if properly managed, prove a very profitable investment for shareholders. I find that many factories established under less favorable conditions in other countries have been paying during recent years very high dividends, some of them ranging up to 15 or even 47 por cent,” The consumption of sugar in Victoria, it appears, is about 45.000 tons a year. The Maffra factory will be capable of producing 300 tons of sugar a week at first. The quality of the product, it is claimed, will be in every way equal to cane sugar. The consumption of beet sugar has increased enormously throughout the world of late years. *ln it- was only a little over one million tons, last year it was nearly five millions, and whereas cane sugar in the fifteen years only showed an increased consumption of 32 per cent., beet sugar increased by 383 per cent. Mr McLean concluded by remarking that the establishment of a beet sugar factory in Victoria would bring d«wn the price of sugar to the consumer, as the cane sugar company would find the competition keen. “There is room for a reasonable reduction in the price without interfering with the profitable nature of the industry,” he said, with which assertion, however, the Queensland j cane growers will probably strongly disa- ; gree.—Hawkes Bay Herald.

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