June 2, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



86i 



always met with iu new countries. In reply to his remarks 

 I may say that I have been travelling almost continually 

 during the last five years, and lived iu various remote 

 countries, tropical and otherwise ; and I have uo hesitation 

 in stating my opinion that Florida, at the present time, 

 offers a bett«r field than any other country for young men 

 with small capital. I was employed during three months 

 last year by an English company in Orange County, Flor- 

 ida, and my duties were arduous, being exposed to the 

 sun and weather from sunrise to sunset during one of the 

 hottest months of the year (September), tramping through 

 swamps and marshes to nvike the necessarj' surveys, wet 

 through for days and weeks running ; but I enjoyed vigor- 

 ous health throughout; neither am I aware of any case 

 of sicltuess among the fifteen men at camp during the time 

 I was there. I felt no inconvenience when working in the 

 sun throughout the day, with uo other protection than a 

 black felt hat. On the other hand, the frosts of this year 

 which are especially alluded to by your correspondent, did 

 no injury of any consequence to young orange trees planted 

 six weeks previously at our camp. The insects, which seem 

 to have so powerfully disturbed your correspondent's equan- 

 imity, cannot be compared iu number or in \'irulence to 

 those usually met Avith iu tropical and sub-tropical coun- 

 tries, and the house fly, which is such a pest in the West- 

 ern States, is comparatively rare. The food of the country 

 is extremely cheap, and can be most amply supplemented 

 by fish and game of every variety, which abounds. My 

 average cost of living per diem amounted to 16 cents, or 

 »bout 8d. Hotels and the general social tone are far in 

 advance of the fast and rough life that prevails in similar 

 new districts iu the west of America. From the tone of 

 your correspondent's letter I imagine that ho was induced 

 by some ot the land sharks that abound in Florida as 

 elsewhere into buying bad land, and then, being inexperi- 

 enced, found it impossible to make his venture pay. It 

 is true, that orange trees do take time to bear, but when 

 bearing they give a splendid profit. In the meantime the 

 land can be planted with speedily-growing crops — such as 

 sweet potatoes — of the easiest culture. Cattle, pigs, and 

 poulti'y rear themselves at no cost to the owner, and the 

 general hviug expenses are so small that very little capital 

 is needed to enable the settler to live until returns come 

 in. It should be remembered that of the immigrants now 

 settling in Florida in such numbers, at least nine out of 

 every ten are Americans from the northern and central 

 states — shrewd men, who are little likely to be taken iu or 

 impressed by exaggerated reports. If such men are cou- 

 vinced of the advantages of breaking up their homes and 

 moving to Florida, as so many are now doing. Englishmen 

 need not be afraid of following their example. — One who 

 HAS WORKED IN FLORIDA. — Field. 



THE SOKONTIA FKOCESS OF EXTRACTING 



SUGAR FROM BEET-ROOT MOLASSES. 



A correspondent to the London Times says: — "The in- 

 crease iu the consumption of sugar in the United Kingdom 

 during the last ten years is immense. In IS43 it was about 

 200,000 tons; iu 1854 it was doubled, being equal to 400,000 

 t,ous; in ly74 it amounted to 850,000 tons; and in 1882 to 

 1,000,000 tons. Of these quantities, in 1870, 165,0<:h) tons 

 were beetroot sugar, and iu 1882 over 400,000 tons beetroot 

 sugar, the whole of which was imported fi-om Germany, 

 Holland, Belgium, and France. The value of the beetroot 

 sugar imported into England is about £10,000,000 per annum. 

 The manufacture of beetroot sugar is entirely neglected in 

 this country, although it has been proved that sugar beets 

 can be grown to advantage. "WTicu the cultivation of the 

 sugar beet first assumed importance on the Continent 

 (about 18.^)0), an official inquiry was ordered by the then 

 Lor<l Lieutenant of Ireland, Lord Clarendon, and the re- 

 port was presented to Parliament in 1852. A series of trials 

 were made in different jmrts of Ireland with sugar 

 beets, the results of which may be summed up as follows: — 

 78 per cent of the beets grown in Ireland, 75 per cent 

 of those grown iu England, and 70 per ceut of those 

 grown in B'-lgium, were rich enough to be worked. Not- 

 withstanding this favourabe report, nothing was done, as 

 no capitalists took up the idea. The West Indian sugar 

 bad then the command of the market, and those engaged 



in the trade saw no necessity for a change. Since then 

 the sugar trade has been revolutionised. The Continental 

 growers have improved the sugar beet, and, assisted by 

 Government bounties, have ruined many of our largest 

 refineries. Au economical process has recently been dis- 

 covered in Germany for the recovery of sugar from beet- 

 root molasses, or any solution of sugar, by the use of 

 eoroutia, which is the alkaline earth of which strontium 

 is the metallic basis. The process was secretly worked in 

 Germany for some years until recently, when patents were 

 taken out for its working by Dr. Scheibler, Professor of 

 Chemistry at the Royal Agricultural College, Berlin, and 

 Chemist of the Beetroot Sugar Institution. By use of 

 this process very large profits are now being made in Ger- 

 many, and refineries in different parts of the Continent (not- 

 ably France and Russia) are adopting the process rapidly. A 

 large deposit of sorontia has been proved to exist in this coun- 

 try. By the new process referred to, the prospect of beetroot 

 cultivation and the manufacture of sugar therefrom iii the 

 United Kingdom is greatly euhanced. To produce one ton 

 of beetroot sugar, one acre of land is required. The im- 

 ports are 400,000 tons of beetroot sugar per annum. The 

 crop of sugar i^eet can be taken every three years. If, 

 therefore, 1,200,000 acres of suitable laud coidd be brouglit 

 under beet cultivation, the whole of the beetroot sugar 

 consumed iu the country could be produced at himo, A 

 large proportion, if not the whole of this land, could be 

 obtained in Ireland. The advantages which may accure 

 to Ireland frum the establishment of the manufacture of 

 sugar from beetroot, appears to be not ouly that it will 

 create a new and extensive source of manufacturing em- 

 ployment, but that, as the material used can only bo 

 profitably obtained by means of improved agriculture, the 

 manufactories of beet sugar should exercise a powerful 

 influence on the agriculture of that country." 



OSTRICH FARMING. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THK " LEADER." 



Sir, — Knowing the interest you take in all that relates 

 to the progress of Victoria, I beg to enclose for insertion 

 in your paper two letters. First, copy of letter sent to 

 the Minister for Lands ; and second, his reply thereto re 

 ostrich farming. Ostiich farming has already been tried 

 here on a small scale by the AccUmatisation Society, and 

 the birds have been found to thrive well. In South Aus- 

 tralia there are now somewhere about 300 ostriches, though 

 the industry was only started three years ago. At the 

 Cape so well does the business succeed that numbers of 

 farmers have given up sheep altogether, and now devote 

 their whole time and attention to the rearing of the os- 

 trich. There is uo reason, however, why the industry should 

 be confined to the Cape Colony, and I desire to draw the 

 attention of capitalists, squatters and mercantile men gen- 

 erally to the fact that the ostrich will thrive just as well 

 here as there. You will perceive by the Minister of Lands' 

 reply to my application for land for the purposes of 

 ostrich farming that at present he has no power to grant 

 it. "What I want, Sir, is for you to use your influence to 

 get a bill passed during the next session on somewhat 

 similar lines to the act recently passed by the South Aus- 

 tralian Parliament, giving power to the Minister of Lands 

 to grant leases, with right of jjurchasn, to applicants who 

 desire to go iu for ostrich farming. — Yours, &c., S. K. S 

 I2th March. 



The Minister for Lands, the Treasury, Melbourne. 



Dear Sir, — Among the many in<lustries which are suc- 

 cessfully carried on in this colony, ostrich farming hitherto 

 has been overlooked. 



2. To give you some idea of the rise of this industry 

 in South Africa, in the year 1805, 19 years ago, there 

 were only 80 (eighty) tame ostriches in that colony; whilst 

 iu 1880, or 15 (fifteen) years afterwards, there were, ac- 

 cording to statistics, 50,0r»0 birds, and the exported fea- 

 thers amounted to over £400,000. 



3. Having had experience I have no doubt that there 

 must now be at least 70,000 birds in the Cape Colony, 

 and the export of feathers could not have been less than 

 £600,0i>0 during 1884. 



4. Tiiere is no reason, however, why the Capo, which is 

 a notoriously slow and backward colony, should monopuHse 



