THE SUGAR BEET INDUSTRY.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1265, 28 May 1896, Page 5

THE SUGAR BEET INDUSTRY.

A WAIKATO SETTLER’S OPINIONS. At the last meeting of the Waikato Farmers* Club, Captain Runciman read the following paper on the sugar beet industry At the request of Vour secretary, at which I feel honoured, I have prepared a paper on SugarBeet Culture, to be read before a meeting of the club. I will give all the information I can respecting its culture in other countries, and my own experiences in this, which extends near a period of 30 years I consider the establishment of a factory in this district of permanent importance. It would encourago and stimulate tho whole agricultural industry. I think before I have concluded my paper that I shall have succeeded in proving to you that no other agricultural pursuit could give such a stimulus to farming Under the proposed arrangements the farmer has sold his crop lx fere it is grown, and knows what he will receive for it. It is a great matter to the farmer to have a certain market for his produce. All, whether large or small land-owners, can participate. The small man is even in a better position than the large, as he and his family can do all the work, and not be subject to the caprice of labourers. lam glad to say, as one who canvassed the district, that there was little difficulty in getting the guarantee of 3000 acres, so soon as tho matter was understood. But it was to me marvellous how very little tho cultivation of the roots was understood. I shall be delighted if tonight I can enlighten my fellow settlers as to the mode of culture, the expense, and the almost certain satisfactory results. The failure of a crop can only occur through negligenco and bad management. Our climate gives ua two months’ seed-time, from the first week in September to the third in November but my experience is that from the Ist to the 20th October is the best seed-time; then any blanks can bo re-sown or filled by transplanting from the unthinned portions, or from a bod sown for the purpose. A ten-year-old boy or girl with a stout lad or man can plant at the rate of 500 plants pethour, which when grown to 41b will weigh a ton, and I assert most emphatically that we have t> ns of thousands of acres in the Waikato and surrounding districts which will grov 20 tons to the acre. As to the class of land and how to treat it, I will base my calculations upon a fairly clean and worn-out grass paddock of fairly dry and medium light land, such as is an average of the Waikato. Tho land should be broken up as early in May as possible ; as to depth that must be largely left to discretion. As a rule I would recommend skimming to a depth of three inches and immediately roll down. If tho land is of a heavier description and portions inclined to be wet during winter, I would recommend ploughing with a good 6 to 7 inch furrow and roll or not at discretion, but all standing water must be let off. Early in September re-plough the rkimmed land to a depth of 7 or 8 inches. The heavier class of land to be also re-ploughed if possible, hut not quite so deep as at first. If the plough does not work satisfactorily, I would recommend working with a cultivator and disc, but the original skin must not be brought to the surface. In either erne apply the disc harrow, the Massey-1 lands or other cult ivator, to the depth of the original ploughing; then harrow with the tine and roll with a light roller, so as to fairly solidify the land, except a heavy fill of raia has happened during the list stage, in which case send the tine harrow before the drill. &jw Id to 201 b of seed as early as p >s.;ible in October, not exceeding l inch in the coulters of an ordinary turnip drill, so arranged as to make the drills from 24 to 28 inches apart, putting on tho requisite quantity of manure, say scwt. That recommended is a mixture of guano, bonedust, superphosphate, and sulphate of potash, put in fairly deep, a canister • attached behind to sow the seed, with a small light roller also attached to cover the seed. My ex perience has taught me that 101 bof seed is ample, but 16 to 201 b is every where recommended, as that quantity assures a better take of plants and more for the birds and insects, lhe plants are easily cut out to 6 to 8 inches. Where plants have been transplanted there is very little difference in size. In order to find out what could be done in the way of transplanting, I tried what a ten-year-old girl and I could do in one hour, i

She dropped the plants and I planted. The result was 550 in the hour. This

number at 41b would make a ton. The thinning should he done when the plants are about 3 inches high, iu their four or five leaf stage, the land between the drills having been previously sacrifiod as c'ose to the plants as possible. This can be done when the land has been got into proper order to a width not exceeding four or five inches, which is all the work it is absolutely necessary to do by hand with a light hand hoe and the fingers. It is a mistake to let the plants get too high before thinning. In about a fortnight after thinning the scirifier ought to be put through the drill again. These operations must be carefull done, and when the land is sufficiently dry. Little moro will be lequired unless the land is very foul with the seed of weeds, till the points of the leaves arc beginning to touch across the drill, when a very .-light moulding up is desirable. The best leaves will keep the ground perfectly clear of weeds, The next operation is the harvesting. I note by Californian and French experience that the roots ate ready for the crushing mill when the lower leaves have fairly commenced to droop and getting yellow and withering; these signs indicate that the plant has attained its highest perfection in saccharine. The roots require about six months to come to perfection. The harvesting will commence hete about the middle or end of April. The plough most in request for lifting the crop is an ordinary potato digger, which fits to the end of a plough with the mouldboard taken ofl, but I am informed that a better lifter has been invented and is corning into general use in Germany. This tops and tails the beet ready for the mill. I don’t know how the roots are sent to the mills, but the inference is that they are sent iu bulk. Difficulties may arise in the working, but this is common to all new industries, and what other men can do we can do. There is a fair margin for profit, and the freight by rail I have no doubt can be arranged satisfactorily. Friends have supplied me with many pamphlets containing treatises on the cultivation and the

results, ami from these I am convinced that the advantages would he very great. The current rate of wag *s here is about the same as in California, with the difference that they work ten hours and we only eight. The central position of the North Island is eminently suited for the cultivation, and a high yield of saccharine is the result. The raw material to produce a ton of sugar can he delivered at the factory at a cost to the manufacturer of under LlO. The cost to the farmer will be approximately for an average crop of 15 tons per acre L 7, which, delivered at the factory, will realise Ll 5. Statistics show that New Zealand requires 30,000 tons of sugar annually, which, at the value of LI3 per ton, amounts to L 390.000. We in New Zealand employ labour and land in other countries to supply us This should not be, as our country and climate are eminently suited to produce sugar for ourselves. To do this means the cultivation of 20,000 acres, for the produce of which there is a certain market, at a remunerative price. This would put and k‘ep in circulation L 4 )o,uoo, which is now sent away eveiy year to purchase what, we ought to produce ourselves, and which we can do from natural advantages better than the countries we purchase from. lfo had prepared a statement of the approximate cost pm- acre of raising a 15 ton crop in the Waikato, which was as follows:—Ploughing, Pis; di-c’ng, 2-; harrowing, Is hi; rolling, is; •hilling, Is til; two scarifyings and light mouldings, !>■>; limning an 1 hand hoeing, IDs; seed and manure, 1,2 ; harvesting, 1,1; carting to sUlion or liver, LI 10s; freight to factory, LI 2-i 01 : total, L 7 7s 6d. If the crop was a 20 ton cno the extra freight and carting would bring the amount up to LB. Let them look at the cost iu New South Wales : Ploughing I f inches deep, L2 sa; second ploughing in spring, 7s Gd ; preparing seed bed, 10s; seed and sowing, 12s; hand hoeing and thinning, 15,s ; horse hoeing three times and hilling, 15s ; harvesting. LI os ; carting to factory, LI 2s 6d : total, L 7 12s, That was the cost without any manuro being used

Captain Runcitnan submitted a number of specimen roots, some of which had been grown by himself from seed supplied by Mr Lewenberg. He had pulled the largest and the smallest. The latter weighed IJlbs, and the former 7ilbs. Taking the average on this basis his crop would be oyer 40

tons to the acre, anti at an average of 3ilbs, the result would be over 30 tons. Of the remaining roots, some had been grown by Mr E. B. Cox, Taupiri, some by Mrs Gwynne, Hamilton, and one, a very fine specimen, by Mr R. Reynolds. Captain Rameiman said the trials he had made had satisfied him that beet could he grown profitably, lie read some correspondence that had passed between himself and Mr Hugh Craig, of San Fiancisco, a treatise on the subject by Hr Ivoebig, and passages from a number of pamphlets, all going to show that the industry is profitable and well adapted to New Zealand.