SUGAR GROWING IN AUCKLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 1189, 12 September 1874, Page 6

SUGAR GROWING IN AUCKLAND.

The Southern Cross remarks :— " From eighteen months to two years ago, a quantity of seeds of sorghum saccharatum wore sent to the Superintendent by the General Government for the purpose of being distributed among the farmers, in order to test the sugar producing qualities of the soil and climate of this province. The seed was distributed in small quantities amongst over eighty settlers in all parts of the province. Some of those who had thus received seed sent stalks of the cane to the Superintendent's office for the purpose of being forwarded to Wellington for chemical analysis. Amongst the many who received the seed gratuitously, only some half -a - dozen sent samples of the produce to the Superintendent's office. However, those six samples speak encouragingly of Auckland as a future sugar producer. One of the samples grown by Mr. J. Becroft, Port Albert, yielded as much" as 13 1 per cent, of sugar. This was a very large percentage to reward a first effort, and ought to give encouragement to our settlers to make further trials in the same direction. A sample of cane grown at Ohinemuri yielded at the rate of 79 per cent, of sugar, and a sample from the Whau district gave 5 2 as its percentage of sugar. It is seen, therefore, that the largest percentage of sugar was obtained from canes grown to 'the northward of Auckland where there is a warmer climate than in districts further south. The other three samples analysed were also grown in northern districts, and each o£ them showed a much higher percentage of sugar than was yielded by the cane grown at the Whau."

Fluke. — " A Practical Man," who states he has had much experience among fluky sheep, writes to the S. A. Register :—: — " During the time that arsenic was used as a dip for scab and tick there was no fluke in the sheep either in Tasmania or Victoria. I now strongly recommend the flock-owners to dip their sheep in a weak solution of arsenic — say from a quarter to half an ounce to the gallon of water, the same as used for destroying scab or ticks. I firmly believe that in less than a year there would be no fluke in the SouthEastern District. There are many other cures, but none so cheap as this." The statistics of the National Agricultural Bureau showed the average yield of the wheat crops, in 1806, in four countries, to be : — England, 28 bushels per acre ; Prussia, 17 ; France, 14 ; United States, 12.