A CHICORY FARM IN CANTERBURY.

West Coast Times, Issue 1675, 11 February 1871, Page 3

A CHICORY FARM IN CANTERBURY.

It is now about three years and a-half since Mr Trent, under the favoring protection of threepence per pound duty on chicory, first essayed its growth and manufacture. He purchased one hundred and fifty acres of land near the Templeton Railway Station, which he subsequently increased by an additional fifty acres alongside, making in all a farm of two hundred acres. The land proved, as he had judged, admirably adapted to the growth of the root, and this, aided by judicious tillage, and a close observance of the season^ resulted from the first in successful crops. Up to the present time he has had four seasons upon the farm. In the first, he cropped only twelve acres, which yielded ten tons ot manufactured chicory ; in the second, he increased to twenty-five acres, which produced twenty tons of chicory ; in the third, he cultivated fifty acres, yielding forty-five tons of chicory ; in the fourth, seventy-five acres, which, owing to the very favorable nature of the season, gave one hundred tons of chicory. Thus it will be seen that each year the extent of land cropped has increased, and when we say that the average value of the chicory is £50 per ton, some idea may be formed of the benefit which must Lave accrued to the province from Mr Trent's enterprising efforts. A considerable portion of the chicory is exported to other provinces every year, say about two-thirds of the gross yield, therefore the labor is not confined to the hands employed on the works alone.

The land was all in its native state when Mr Trent purchased it, but now it is in the highest cultivation necessaiy for the purpose. It has all been worked eighteen inches deep with a sub-soiler, and the paddocks not in use for the time being for chicory are laid clown in prairie grass — the only grass that will thrive on the soil, which is light and sandy in its nature with a strong loam sub-soil having a shingle sub-stratum. Though comparatively useless for farming, it is peculiarly adapted to the growth of chicory. It is dry and warm, which are indispensable requisites, cold, damp ground invariably starving . the plant.