A CHICORY FARM IN CANTERBURY.

Wanganui Herald, Volume IV, Issue 1110, 7 March 1871, Page 2

A CHICORY FARM IN CANTERBURY.

It is now about three years and ahalf since Mr Trent, under the faybi> ing 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 seasons, resulted from tbe first in successful crops. Up to the present time lie has had four seasons upon the farm." In the first he cropped only twelve acres, which yielded ten tons of 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.fortyfive 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 thac each year the extent of land cropped has increased, and when we say that the average value of the chicory is £50 a ton, some idea may be formed of the benefit; which must have accrued to the Province from Mr Trent's enterprising efforts. A considerable portion of the chicory is exported to other provinces every year, say 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 necessary 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 down in prairie grass—the only grass that will thrive on the soil, which ia light and sandy in its nature, with a strong loam sub-soil having-a shingle substratum. Though comparatively useless for farming, it is peculiarlyadapted to the growth ofchicoiy. It is dry and warm, which are indispensable requisites, cold, damp ground in- ' variably starving the plant.