236 TEA AND SILK FARMING IN NEW ZEALAND. 



in the former. In the South of Europe sorgho is also produced, 

 but in the more northern countries, such as Germany, Holland, 

 Belgium, and Britain, the summer heat is neither so great nor 

 so protracted as to bring this plant to perfection. Up till the 

 year 1857 sorgho was unknown in America, but since its intro- 

 duction the cultivation has spread until now it has extended as 

 far north as the State of Maine, where it is grown almost entirely 

 on account of the large proportion of sugar it yields. In favour- 

 able climates, such as that of Illinois, 384 gallons of rich syrup 

 per acre have been obtained, which yield 10 lbs. per gallon of 

 good crystals. vSpecimens of this syrup have been subjected to 

 analysis by Mr. M'Murtrie, chemist to the U.S. Department of 

 Agriculture, with the following result : — 



Cane sugar (saccharose), . . . 88-893 per cent. 

 Grape sugar (glucose), . . . 5-610 „ 



Water (by drying at 110° C, . . 5125 



Unaccounted for, .... 0-372 „ 



100-000 \ 



Comparing this statement with the 2800 lbs. or 3000 lbs. of 

 sugar per acre obtained from beet in Germany and France, 

 it will be seen that the advantage is greatly in favour of sorgho. 

 Indeed, only a few years ago some of the farmers in Maine stated 

 that the profit they derived from the sugar obtained from one 

 acre of maize — which yields one-fifth less saccharine matter than 

 sorgho — was equal to the gain from the sale of thirty acres of 

 wheat. The sorgho sugar industry, it need scarcely be added, is 

 rapidly spreading in the United States, where it is not likely to 

 be dropped so long as the profit it realises keeps near its present 

 figure. 



It is well known that no cultivated fruit surpasses the orange 

 as a remunerative crop, even allowing that nine or ten years may 

 elapse between seed planting and securing the fiirst harvest, where 

 grafting is not resorted to. Oranges and lemons, as already 

 stated, grow luxuriantly in different parts of New Zealand, where 

 one hundred trees per acre may be profitably cultivated. A 

 moderate estimate mves from 1000 to 1600 orano^es as the annual 

 yield from each tree after the tenth year, which, at the small 

 value of one penny three farthing^s per dozen, shows a yield of 

 nearly twenty shillings per tree, or a gross return of over £96 

 per acre. But the capabilities of New Zealand have not usually 

 been reckoned much inferior to those of New South AVales, 

 where, in certain orange groves, the gross return is estimated at 

 £500 per acre from orange trees, individuals of whivjh for more 

 than twenty years have yielded three hundred dozens of the most 

 superb fruit per annum. 



