NEW INDUSTRIES. (FOR THE "DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS.")

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIII, Issue 3037, 20 April 1867, Page 5

NEW INDUSTRIES. (FOR THE "DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS.")

Mihtjon has been made in the columns of this paper of a new industry, namely, the cultivation of American millet or broom-corn by Mr. Wren, of Mount flobson Nursery, Eemuera. This crop occupied about two acres, and is presently bting cut down and harvested. The return in feed per acre, and the amount sown and method of cultivation, will be explained when we return to this subject. The part of the plant required by Meisrs. Jlandeno and Smith is the head of the stalk, which, having been denuded of the seed by hackling, is laid" out to dry by the influence of the sun and wind, prior to being sent to the factory to be experimented on, and form brooms f ueh ai are imported from America. Having last week visited the manufactory, I wai informed that some 2,000 handles were ready for the raw material, when that should be placed at their disposal. Those of the public who are desirous of witnessing the enterprise of this firm in producing articles of daily use would do well to call at the "Steam Tub and Pail Factory, where they would meet with every civility and attention ; and would be told that, according j to their printed handbill, the factory can turn out a variety of useful things, in the shape of tubs, pails, in sets or nests ; butter kegs, rakes, wash-boards, office and other furniture, &c. From the completeness of the machinery, about 450 broom-handles, or 600 brush-handles, can be turned out per day. Specimens of the rakes manufactured out of native wood were exhibited at the late meeting of the New Zealand Agricultural Society, held at Otahuhu, where a premium was awarded to the exhibitors. The wood used, as.before stated, is native ; the shafts of the rakes being turned out of tanekaba ; the heads of the same implement*, aye formed out of mangiao, and the teeth out of mafiuka or tea-tree. < ■' Besides the, before-mentioned productions/ tubs are hooped and put together-^being sliced, ' fawn, and flhapfd, spun round, internally

f planed, and scooped oat in a manner that would Astonish an on-looker. Washing-boards in dozens, tacked together, are placed convenient for. removal and export— looking every bit as good for the purpose required as those forwarded by agents from our American cousins — and lay silently awaiting their fate in a corner upstairs. Many of the casks, <fee, are made out of the native wood rewarewa. The amount of work turned out from this factory of local industry, and the probable extension of the same, are dependent on the patronage and the employment of these everyday articles of domestic use, in preference to using suoh as are imported to our shores. When we include the manufacture of American brooms (the handles for which are ready), we may have to state that the firm have achieved a success in spite of many difficulties, and we can only hope that the publio generally will approve of their labours and assiduity, by using more generally the manufactures they periodically turn out. Ageicultubist.