THE BEET-SUGAR INDUSTRY IN VICTORIA.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume XXXII, Issue 1, 20 January 1926, Page 48

THE BEET-SUGAR INDUSTRY IN VICTORIA.

The Maffra district of Victoria, where the beet-sugar industry of that State is located, was visited recently by Mr. J. W. Deem, Instructor in Agriculture, who makes the following brief observations : — This industry appears to be doing much better now, and the Maffra factory has shown a good profit during the past two seasons. Several of the local farmers grow upwards of 100 acres of sugar-beet. The seed is sown with a light, coulter drill at the rate of 12 lb. to 14 lb. per acre, in drills 18 in. apart, the. average drill sowing four rows at a time. Seed is imported by the factory and retailed at cost price, which for the past year or two has worked out at is. per pound. Most growers use fertilizers, chiefly superphosphate, at from 2 cwt. to 4 cwt. per acre. Two-thirds of this is drilled into the ground during the preparation, and the balance sown with the seed. There is at present a tendency to discontinue rolling before drilling, and to roll when the seed is through the ground. The beets are -thinned to about 12 in. in the drills. Intercultivation is carried out by a four-row cultivator of the Planet Jr. type. A yield of 20 tons is considered a good crop, and the beets were worth 40s. per ton at the factory last year. The roots are lifted by machinery and topped in the field. When these tops dry a little they' make splendid sheep-feed, and up to twenty sheep per acre have been fattened on them. After the sugar has been extracted, the pulp is; stored in a large silo and sold to farmers at from is. to 5s. per ton.