SUGAR BEET CULTURE.

Waikato Times, Volume XVII, Issue 1420, 9 August 1881, Page 3

SUGAR BEET CULTURE.

,The following is the first portion of a paper on the culture of sugar-beet which was read by Mr W. A. Graham afewdays ago at a meeting of the Tauranga Eclectic Club. It wasMrGraham'sintentiontohave read the paper .to a Waiknto audience, but as at the time his movements were uncertain, and he was anxious to give the fullest publicity to the subject, he followed the course referred to :—": — " In compliance with the request of the gentlemen connected with your society, it gives me pleasure to read to you a paper upon the cultivation of Bugar beet, and fhe important part it is eventually going to bear in the agricultural progress of New Zealand. I am convinced m my own mind that sugar-beet will grow to perfection in this portion of the colony, and will yield at any rate as large a percentage of marketable sugar as in any country in the world. For gram the southern provinces may be specially adapted, but for all kinds of root crops our province is admittedly the best suited, and our climate and soils are all tnat can be desired. My brothor, Mr Geoige S. Graham, General Manager of the Colonial Insurance Company, during his late visit to Europo, inspected the sugar beet districts of Franco and Belgium, also the ra cUiuf actor ies in operation in other countries. After carefully considering the relative positions, together with the advantages aud disadvantages of those couutnes as compared with our own, he came to the conclusion that we might anticipate a most successful result from the cultivation of the beetroot", and its manufacture into sugar. Pie is of opinion that our rich loamy soils arc equal to the average of French and German sells, and our climate better. His opinion is shaied by leading men interested in the beet sugar industry in Hamburg, who sent me samples of Sileeian beet seed to test, and it is satisfactory to be able to assure you that the icsults of those tests made have exceeded our expectations. I regret I have not with mo the letter of my Hamburg correspondent, also the particulars of the cost of manufacturing the roots. I can, therefore, only quote from memory the estimates. I am informed by the gentleman above alluded to that in the first place, to successfully carry out a sugar-beet factory, it is absolutely necessary that a company be formed upon co-operative principles, that is, that the farmers should be bluieholders, and the capitalist and manufacturers shareholders. A mill similar to the one my brother inspected, and which mill had been for the past ten years paying from 25 to 34 per cent on its capital invested, could bo put up for £15,000. The great consideration requisite in the selection of a site for a factory is an unlimited supply of fiesh water for an ample steam power, at least 130 horse 2)0, ver will be necessary. The mill should be near the root farm, as cartage is a laige item in the matter of profit and loss. About 10,000 tons of roots would have to be aunually guaranteed to the mill to make it profitable and keep it going. Therefore, calculating roots at horn 20 tons to the acre, it would require at least 500 acies to be in loots. To ciect buildings and purchase machinery and plant, and carry out the operations ot a sugar company, would lequire a capital of i' 30,000, a large proportion oi which, I believe, would be subscribed in Hamburg by experienced men, who, if guaiauteed co-operation, and constant supply of roots from the faimeis, would come out and take charge of the the mill and the manipulation of the beet sugar. The Beet. Mr Branchon gives the following desciiptiou of the variety of the beet root most valued by the sugar manufacturers, as being peculiarly rich in saccharine matter. The white silesian root (Beta Alba) is slender and tupeiing, and shows very little above ground, penetrating about twelve inches into the soil, fiom which, by means of its numerous ladicles, it draw-* the necessary pabulum. Its cultivation is similar to that of most weeded sotts, and depends on the s.tmc principles, its pivoting shape being unbuited to clayey tenacious soil-, but prospering in light loamy earth eiisily penotiated by wator. According to Dr Voelcker the following arc the characteristics ot good sugar beets :—: — Ist. They have a regular, pear shaped form and smooth skin. Canot shaped long tapeiing loots arc considered inferior to pear .shaped silesian beets. 2nd. They do not throw out many fibrous branches, roots, or forks. Forked roots are difficult to clean, and not so readily pulped as well grown symmetrical pearshaped loots. 3rd. They have a white, firm, and dense flesh, and clean sugaiy taste. 4th. Good sugar beets generally weigh from 1} to 21bs. Roots weighing under jib are frequently woody, and, besides sugar, contain too large a percentage of other constituents, which prevents in a large measure tho extraction of crystallised sugar from the juice ; whilst loota weighing more than 2Ubs are generally too watery and too poor in sugar. Oth Good beets always have small tops, and no tendency to become necky. Such roots do not show much above ground, but grow almost entirely in the ground. Roots, the tops of which grow above the ground, do not yield so much sugar as others that bury themselves bettor in the soil. Crystallised beofc root sugar is perfectly identical in composition with cane sugar, and is undistinguishablo from it by the sight, the taste, or by chemical tests.

Yield of Roots Per Acre. The weight of the crop of roots gathered fyom 1 hectare (2} acres) on the Continent, of Europe varies considerably, but the following figures may give some idea of the subject: — Austria, 21 to 29 tons, yielding from 3,080 to 4,33filbs. of sugar; Bohemia, from 23 to 29 tons, yielding from 3,344 to 4,6401b5. of sugar ; France, 30 tons, yielding 4,4641b5, of sugar. The weight of roots per acre was origmaliy far less than at present. M. Captal counted in round numbers 20 ton 9 per hectare (2\ acres), later on 24 tons; more recently still, Dr Sace, 40 tons. M. B'iruchson informs us that in the north of France a hectare often produces 50 tons ; and it is on record that 38 tons of superior roots have been produced on an English acre of land, a yield which German and French authorities encourage us to believe may in time bo equalled on all sides. Sir Robert Kane, Professor Sullivan, and lyf, Gages state that the quantity grown in Ireland has been 16 to 40 tons per acre. They obtained a per centage of sugar in some instances of 16 per cent, (equal to that of the sugar cane), and in many others superior to any the beet had previously yielded abroad, and they express their conviction that in oourse ef agricultural and scientific ' progress beet generally would be made to. yield as inuoh as its" rival. £n France the ratio of growing and harvesting a crop ,of beet, compared with tb,at of growing and harvesting "a crop of wheat, is as 42'7§ is t6 $§ > 9?, £n other words, ifc takes g2 per c.ent. or not quite one quarter more to produce $ne' aero of beets than, it does to cultivate one

acre of wheat. The proportfon of leaves to roots in. beeta varieß from 60 to 78 per cent, by'weight. " ' ' ' '•? / Value of Beet Root for Feeding ahd Farming Purposes. According to Boussing and Other experts, 4 to 5 lbs of beet > are equal to 1 lb ot dry hay in nutritive power for feeding purposes. Beet root pulp, after it has been pressed for the extraction of the juice, has the same value as 'the original root which produced it — weight for weight, so that it? price may readily be established on the basis of 4J lbs of pulp ' being equivalent to 1 lb of dry hay — that is 100 lbs pulp to 22 lbs of good hay. Therefore, if 20 tons of' beet are made to the acre, and if the weight ,oi pulp averages 18 per cent, of that of the best roots, we find 8064 lbs of pulp (equal to 1774 lbs of hay) to the acre, to be available for the purpose of feeding or fattening stock over and above the value of sugar extracted therefrom. The growing and harvesting of one acre of beets requires at the most 46 days of human labor (partly children's) and 14 days of horse labour. , '>„>, In the West Indies 1 acre of sugar cane necessitates 172 days of human labor,. In a pamphlet which M., Achard published, he btatos that in addition to its yield of sugar the beet \\ ould be valuable pulp for cattle ; that the head of the root Avould be eaten by them ; that much valuable manure would be the result ; that this manure, in returning to the gionnd, would promote an abundant harvest of cerfeals ; that the molasses could be converted into alcohol or vinegar ; and that the leaves are an excellent substitute for tobacco. Moreover, to fully estimate the advantage to be derived from this loot allowance must bo made for the undoubted fact that its culture as a rotation crop so prepares the soil that it need not lie fallow, and so impioves the wheat that fiom \ to ', more is produced than befoie beet preceded it, and that cattle feed on the leaves and pulp arc exceedingly prolific, while their milk becomes nioie abundant and of bettor flavour ; so tJi.it the production of sugar adds so the supply of bread and meat, and these leading necessities of man's existence stimulate and aid each other. M. De La Vergne, a french authority, states—'' In the fiist rank of culture the sugar-beet root stands, having been gradually developed .since the year 1789, and which may be regarded as the greatest agricultural conquest of our time. In the Economic Biirale de la France depuis 1786 par M. L. De Lavergne, the author says — "In the first rank of culture there is one which hab been developed almost entirely since 1789, and which, pexhaps, may be regaided as the greatest agricultural conquest of our time — sugarbeet root. It was feared at the commencement that the cultivation of the sugarbeet would curtail the production of beef aud corn by occupying the best lands and exhausting them, but this wiis an unfounded fear, in so far as regards the best cultivated lands. It has been proved at the present time that the manufacture of sugar in creating a new souice of piofit also increases other pioductions of the soil. The extraction of the .saccharine matter deprives the loot of but a part of its elements ; the pulp and leaves afford abundant food for animals, aud the profits of sugar manfactory enables the fertility of the .soil to bo indefinitely increased by the purchase of chemical manures (engraiscommerciaux). In 1853 the town of Valenciennes, the principal locality of this industiy, was able to erect a triumphal arch with these significant words thereon — ' Yield of wheat in the district before the manufacture of sugar, 332,000 hectolitiea (a hectolitre— 22 Imp gal. very nearly) ; number of cattle, 700". Yield of wheat after the establishment of the sugar industry— l2l,ooo hectohtns ; number of cattle, 11,500. These curious statistics aic not altogether without a response, aa one can ask if the production of cuttle and corn would not have increased more during forty years if the Flemish farmers had entirely devoted their attention to it. The English make no sugar, and the foitunate connection of beef and bicad, solely by the rotation system, has increased enormously their yield. However, it may be, this department has been able, by increasing its manures, to cultivate ypaily 20,000 hectares (50,000 acres) of sugar-beet, and ouch hectares {2\ acies) produces from 1000 to 3000 franos (€4O to £120) worth of raw material. No other cultivation pioduces as much from the sumo extent. It is the chef-d'oeuvre of our rural industry. Those engaged in this culture have been able by knowledge and care to create, by a persevering choice of seeds, artificial varieties of sugar-beets, which yield more sugar than the other. The well-known principle of selection applies equally as well to plants as to animals. ' (To be Continued.)