The Waikato argus GEORGE EDGECOMBE Proprietor. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1897.

Waikato Argus, Volume III, Issue 221, 11 December 1897, Page 2

The Waikato argus GEORGE EDGECOMBE Proprietor. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1897.

It will be seen by a report we publish in another column Dr. Gustave Kottinann. the chemical inspector of the Colonial Sugar Company, has paid a flying visit to this district and has reported to his company the result of his observations in regard to growing sugar-beet. He starts with the assertion that there is not yet any information avail-

able which can be accepted as proof that beets of fair sugar contents can be grown iu the district. It must, be within the knowledge of nearly every man in the Waikato that for the" last ten years small areas have been repeatedly grown and that the result has been satisfactory both as regards quantity and saccharine contents. Analyses made by Mr Pond, the Government analyst, give as the result of analysing roots from various parts of the district: —" Percentage of sugar varied from 93 to 19 - 3, the average being 144." These analyses were made some years back, before seed had been brought to the perfection which has now been attained, and before the best mode of cultivation was known to the growers. They give results quite equal to the averages of countries where the industry is successfully prosecuted, in Europe and America. Something like one hundred tests have been made by analysis with equally good returns. This surely does away with Dr. Kottmann's statement that the assumption that sweet beets can be successfully grown is not to be relied upon.

Then as to climate and soil, Mr B. W. E. Mclvor, F.C.5.L,., who probably knows quite as much of beet cultivation as Dr. Kottmann, said in 1881, when speaking at Cambridge, " Your land would produce sugar-beet in great quantity. First of all sugar land is not rank, and rankness or richness in the soil is repugnant to the production of good sugar-beet. In the second place, potash is a very important substance, particularly so to a crop like beet, and your soil contains abundance of it. In the third place, so far as I can judge of your climate from what I have read and seen, it is very suitable for the growth of beet." Professor Black visited the district about the same time, and was ignorant of the fact that tests of beetroot bad been made when he said : " I am astonished that in this district no at tempt has been made to grow sugarbeet. From what I see of the country you have one especially suited for sugar-beet cultivation. Why don't you cultivate sugar beetroots."

Dr. Kottruann points out that success depends, in addition to the yield and quality of. the roots, on the facilities for cheap transit, cheap fuel and limestone, and he candidly admits that the Waikato meets requirements in this respect. This, even after his very cursory visit in the interests of the Colonial Sugar Company, he was compelled to admit. A glance at the map would have enabled him to do this without visiting the district at all. If ttvo navigable rivers and a network of railway lines such as "Waikato possesses will not give advantageous transport facilities, they are not procurable in Australasia, or for that matter in any other country. As to further experiments in the growth of the roots, they are unnecessary. Practical farmers are satisfied that the roots can be grown in equally large quantities to the acre, as in sugar-producing countries, and analyses show that the roots are equal in quality to those grown there. What has been done dozens of times on a small scale can be done on a large, and those who have given the most careful consideration to the matter are convinced that all that is required to establish a successful industry is the capital to erect the machinery and conduct the business, by the aid, of course, of practical experts and competent business men. The manager of the Colonial Sugar Company in his letter alludes to the fact that the failure cf the cane sugar supply in New South Wales will leave on the hands of those engaged in the trade a large quantity of plant, much of which would be available for the manufacture of beet-sugar, and the factories might thus be much more cheaply equipped than by any other means. He further puts forth the promise that his company will supply seed for further experiments. The implication to be drawn from this is that his company is desirous of getting the trade into their hands. Holding as we do that no further experiments are necessary, we can only infer that the object of the company in sending their expert is to delay the Bill promised by the Government, in order that no other body shall intervene before they are ready to remove their old plant from New South Wales. We are informed that there is a skilled representative of capitalists on the road from Europe. This probably accounts for the philanthropy of the Sugar Company, and the report of the*Sugar Company's expert appearing just at the juncture when the Sugar Beet Bill is likely to come before the House,