THE MAFFRA SUGAR FACTORY.

Waikato Argus, Volume IV, Issue 308, 30 June 1898, Page 4

THE MAFFRA SUGAR FACTORY.

Wk are indebted to Capt. Runciman, of Marsh Meadows, for placing at our disposal a letter from an old New Zsaland friend of his, now a resident of D.ooin, Victoria, to whom Capt. Runciman wrote for information in conocetion with the beet sugar industry, recently started a: Maffra. We take the following extract from the letter :—" The capital of the company is £75,000 iu XI shares, of which the Government has advanced £50,000 at 4 per cent, for 14 years. The factory is a magnificent structure of brick, is lighted by electricity, and is fitted up with all the most modern machinery for dealing with beet. The agreement with the manufacturers of the machinery was to supply a plant capable of treatiug 350 tons of beets per day, but, so far, the factory had not accomplished this. The factory was not working at the time of my visit, in order to allow .1000 tons of beet to accumulate to test the capability, of the plant for a 24 hours' run. The experts say that it is much more difficult to extract the sugar from beets grown on virgin soil than from that growD on land previously under cultivation. The beet has all been grown on virgin soil around Maffra, upon lands rented from the large landowners. Part of the lands under beet culture this season is a deep black loam, and immediately around Maffra the soil is a dark chocolate, with a good deal of sand in it. The company are growing about half the beets themselves, but they would prefer tha farmers taking up this work. The company lets as much work as they can by contract. Their mode of working is something like preparing the land for potatoes—a furrow about four inches deep is turned over to rot the grass, and then give a good crossploughing eight iuches deep and get the ground well pulverised, ready for the drill. A single-furrow plough is used, with a 6ubsoiler attached to stir up the sods, drawn by three horses abreast. The seed is sown by specially imported drills, covering six or eight rows at a time, and which registers the quantity of seed passing through the machine. A small horse-hoe is used between the drills to keep the weeds down. Specially imported machines, doing several rows at a time, were tried, but they did not answer. The rows are 18 to 20 inches ■part. When the roots are fit for lifting they are ploughed out with a singlefurrow plough, with the mouldboard detached. The machines imported for this pilrpose did not answer. After the plough the rough dirt is knocked off and the roots are thrown into heaps. Two or three inches of the root grown above the surface is chopped off, and the beets are then loaded into drays and taken to the factory. The writer then goes on to describe the treatment in the factory, and adds that the Hon. Allan McLcun, Maffra, is Chairman of Directors, and from whom further information could be obtained. We reprint an article which appeared in the Age ori June Ist, which fives a very full description of the position ot the industry now under weigh at Maffra :

Notwithstanding a most adverse season it may now be claimed that the beet sugar industry has made a successful start. Possibly the actual fioancial results to the glowers have not been so satisfactory as they anticipated, but this, it may be fairly said, is due to the un favourable M-eathcr conditions under which their beets were raised, and hence mutt not be regarded as indicating what vthe industry promises in the future. According to the latest reports the average yield of roots in the Maffra district, owing to the unprecedented dry weather, will be only 12 tons to the acre, though on some farms, where special attention was given to the crop, the yield has been from 25 to 30 tons to the acre. Under favourable conditions the ordinary yield should not be below an average of 20 tons, and this will give the grower a handsome return. Even this year, taking the low average of 12 tons, the crop has been sufficiently remunerative to warrant the conclusion that as the industry expands it will revolutionise to a considerable extent the agricultural system of the whole colony. It will be interesting to show what a bad or indifferent crop actually returns to the grower, so that farmers may have some idea what they will obtain in good seasons. The price paid by the Maffra Company for fresh beets depends on the percentage of sugar which they are found to contain on analysis. This year the average is 15s per ton, and, taking 12 tons to the acre, there is a gross return of £9. The cost of production, including all charges and delivery of roots, is assessed at £6 per acre, thus leaving a net profit of £3 per acre. It is evident, therefore, that in good seasons the returns to the growers would be highly satisfactory, and hence no discouragement should be experienced from the less favourable results of the present year. It must not be overlooked that the grower, in addition to payment for his roots, i 3 entitled to receive from tho company, free of charge, a certain quantity of exhausted fresh alices, not less than 30 per cent, of the net weight of tho beets delivered, and these slices make excellent fodder for the fattening of stock, thus giving an additional value to his produce. It may be claimed that the secondary advantages to be derived from the expansion of the beet sugar industry in Victoria are quite as* important as the f>rimary. For instance, it will tend to mprove the value of land in all districts suitable for the growth of beets. This is very emphatically shown by a recent report of Mr Sigismuud Stein, who, referring to the advantages which might accrue from beet growing in Great Britain, say 3 : —" The cultivation of beet has revolutionised the wholo of the agriculture on the Continent, nnd has brought out the wealth of the'soil to the highest value and perfection. Where 18s per acre was paid in Germany 40 years ago, 54s per acre is now the annual rent for beetroot soil." Already, to a small extent, this improvement in the value of land for beet production has been illustrated in Victoria. On Friday last, for instance, 180 acres of the Boisdale Estatt, Maffra, were let by auction for a term of two years for beet growing at an annual rental of from 25s to £3 per acre, the total rent obtained for the 180 acres being £2(35 5s per annum. How the Continental nations have appreciated and taken advantage of this new departure is shown by the enormous incrcose of late years in the production of beet sugar. For instance, in 1853 the total production in Germany was only 60,466 tons, whilst for 1897 08 Mr Lichb estimates it at 1,850,000 tons. France, the first country to utilise the discovery of the German chemist, that tho beatroot contained sugar.in 1820-21 only produced 50 tons, whilst for 1897-98 the output is given at 820,000 tons. Iu Austria, Uussia, Belgium and Holland,where the industry has become established, the production increased the Kuropean supply to buch an extent that it has been checked to keep it within the bounds of the demand. In the United States, specially on the Pacific Slope, of late years beet sugar making has become an important factor. The total amount of beet sugar made in the United States during the past year was 90,491,6701 b., an average of 2321 b. per ton of 20001 b., or 11-16 per cent, of the weight of beets. This is a less percentage than is obtained in Germany. Reliablo information shows that there will be in operation in the United States during 1898, 17 factories. It is estimated that at least 80,000 acres will be planted in beets during the season of 1898. The yield of beets is expected to be nearly 800,000 tons, and of unjjar about 180,000,0001 b. The percentnut; of i eet sugar produced in the United M';>!(* during 1597 to the total consumptn n was only 2}, but the prospects are that in 189* it will be nearly 4 per cent. tf the total consumption, which now

amounts to about 2,000,000 tons annually. It may fairly be claimed that these figures prove that the cultivation of beets for sugar making has become a necessity to the agriculturist. The question may be asked, " Why a necessity ?" and ilie answ r to be found in the experiences of Fiance, Germany and other Continental nations. In all of these States a more or less complete system for feeding stock on the residue of the beet is in practice, ivith most successful results. In Germany alone, according to Mr Stem's figures, four mil ion tons of beetroot slices are used for cattle feeding, and this represents a value of no less than £1,4000,000 per annum. In France and Denmark the dairy herds, during the winter months, are largely fed with best slices, which also form an excellent food for sheep. Very recently a system of drying the wet slices has been adopted in Germany, and these are now exported largely for feed purposes. But tiro most. convincing argument as to the advantages obtained, from a stock feeding and fattening standpoint, is that in those districts where the cultivation of beet roots for sugar making has been most extensive the number of cattle kept, both for meat and other, including dairy, purposes, has most largely increased. Of course it is not asserted that cattle and sheep can be fed on beet bliccs alone with satisfactory results ; but the slices can be used to such an extent in the absence of other feed as Dot only to preserve life, but also to check deterioration. To fatten cattle iu ordinary seasons not more than £ cwt. per diem should be allowed for each boast. The 6lices, dried or fresh, mixed with a little hay, given to sheep will suffice to fatten them for market, hence even in our drought periods butchers' meat could be obtained within reasonable limits. The industry, apart from sugar making, will improve largely the value of land in all districts suitable for beet gxowicg, and give us a good supply of feed, which, if properly utilised, wdl appreciably improve the condition of our flocks and herds. As to the results which may be anticipated in connection with a supply of locally grown sugar, the Maffra experiment proves beyond dispute that a good marketable article can be produced, and, what is more, one that consumers will purchase. The factory has been sending from 50 to 100 tons per week to Melbourne since manufacturing started. The total output at Maffra this year, owing to the bad season, will nob exceed 1200 tons ; it may be less, so that the quantity cannot have any appreciable influence on market prices. These, in the future, allowing that the industry expands, will be governed by outside surroundings ; but if the calculations of the experts are correct, even assuming that we federate'! with Queensland tomorrow, Victorian beet sugars could compete on favourable terms in our own markets with shipments from the northern colony. The imports and exports of sugars of all descriptions into Victoria for the past 10 years have been as follow: Imports. Exports. Year. Cwt. Cwt. 1887 1,193,045 .. 142,980 1888 993,350 .. 141,994 1889 1,124,280 .. 117,012 1890 1,348,042 .. 130,095 1891 1,289,837 .. 185,159 1892 1,157,820 .. 129.053 KS93 939,459 .. 119,075 1894 1,140,027 .. 149,922 1895 1,183,292 .. 88,894 1890 '. 1,295,427 .. 144,110 Totals.. .. 11,005,785 1,349,524 Taking the average for the 10 years, and deducting the exports from the imports, the annual demand for consumption is 51,576 tons. Of this total a considerable proportion—perhaps half—is used lor manufacturing purposes, which, under present rebate regulations, would still ensure this trade to the importers. The supply of 25,000 tons of grocery Borts would, however, give sufficient employment for at least three, if nbt four, beet factories, and their establishment, as has been shown, would confer very material advantages on the agriculture of the colony; whilst the value of the sugar raised would remain here, instead of being sent abroad to enrich foreign producers, or swell the dividends of the refineries who send their sugars to this market.