CORRESPONDENCE. THE MANUFACTURE OF BEET SUGAR. TO THE EDITOR.

Waikato Times, Volume XVII, Issue 1444, 4 October 1881, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE. THE MANUFACTURE OF BEET SUGAR. TO THE EDITOR.

TO THK EDITOR. Sir, — I observe late remarks in your paper and Axel land IFreldu Jticws regarding the manufacture of sugar from beet, wherein the price of the "plant" for manufacture is set down at a very high figure — some £30,000, if I remember aright — which is calculated to putadamper on an industry which would greatly tend to the benefit of tins district, but which, like most untried schemes, should be made to develope itself gradually. In Fiance I have seen sugar made from beet very successfully where the whole plant and buildings could not cost over £2000. Beet being heavy in carriage, comparatively small mauufactoiics might suit bust, as they could be erected near the centres of pioduction, while the ■waste pulp could be returned to the land wheie it grew by being used as cattle feed, for winch it is well adapted, having been hist salted and pressed in stone pits .So if fainieis nre satisfied that they can compete with cane-growers from Queensland and Fiji, etc., they may obtain their object without the great expense involved in the scheme before alluded to, and without dividing their profits with foreign speculator I',1 ', and I believe the undertaking would have success as some of the lands in your distiict might be made to pioduce a ton of sugar to the acre— l am, etc., T.JM. Piako, September 30th.

[It is light to &tate that the sum of money referred toby our correspondent as excessive would include the cost of the necessary refining pUnt. — Ed.]

Fleavy r.iins have recently gladdened the hnarfs of tho farmers in New South Wales anrl Sydney. The Mml says : —The cl.imp soil in the absence of fioßts will yield a plentiful stoic of grass for spring, and corcal crops which last week were looking veiy sickly arc now strong, and affoul hopes of a fair average. The wool h.irvest has commenced and n few sheds in the wont and. south have already dispatched hundreds of bales of the new clip to the coast. AoKiccri/ruRAL prospects are beginning to look much better in South Aushalia. The Obsnur says: — The recent rains have bughtened the farming prospects in all parts jjof the country. A gentleman lately down from the north, whose personal observation ranged from the neigh - bom hood of Clare to tho Hundreds of Aikaba. and whoso intimate acquaintance with thp subject qualifies him to Hpeak as an expert, informs us that with hardly a single exception the spring wheat is looking as well as it possibly can do at this season. The very prevalent backwardness of the wheat our informant regards as an advantage rather than otherwise, as he found tho young plant to be exceptionally sturdy, and consequently more than commonly able to resist or at least successfully survive attacks from the red- rust fungus. On the whole he considers the present outlook of the farmers in this matter as cheerful a one as the could possibly wish for.