9i6 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[June i, 18S5 



The following interview with a millowner on the Clarence 

 River gives a very fair idea of the general opinion ex- 

 pressed to me with regard to the prospect of the sugar 

 industry on the Clarence : — 



" The sugar industry iu this district has," he said, " I 

 think reached a climax. In fact, I think, it is pretty 

 well 'played out.' It is going to be a struggle between 

 white labour and coloured, or some similar labour which 

 will be cheap and reliable. In countries where black 

 labour is used sugar can be grown and manufactured for 

 less than we can do so here, even with the handicap of 

 the £5 duty. We have to pay v&at is really— when 

 its unsatisfactory character is considered— an extraordinary 

 price for white labour, and even with the duty we are 

 not able to compete against the outside sugar countries. 

 Sugar for which we got £32 per ton last season is now 

 silling at £24. One of the members of an important 

 sugar company in Sydney informed a proprietor of this 

 mill when on a visit to the city that they could import 

 sugar into the colony and pay the duty, and yet that 

 it would stand them less in cost than sugar of a similar 

 quality manufactured on the Clarence. Of course if that 

 can be dono it is 'all up' with the sugar industry in 

 this colony. 



" Some five or six years ago our average crops of two- 

 year-old cane ran from 50 to CO tons to the acre, but 

 this season cane. of a similar growth will only yield on 

 an average up to 35 tons to the acre. Even allowing 

 for frost and drought, on our richest land wo cannot 

 get more than 45 tons of two-year-old cane. ;Many 

 growers are now going in for annual cane. It takes the 

 full 12 months, in fact more, to bring it to maturity. 

 I cannot see how sugar-making can pay the owners of 

 small mills, but it still pays the growers fairly well. 

 The yield will have to come" down to 26 or 28 tons to 

 the aero, and then it will be ploughed out, and we 

 will all go back to com again. Wlien I first started in 

 this district all the land surrounding the mill was under 

 sugar, but now you would have to walk for 10 minutes 

 In fore reaching the first patch of cane, and it is only 5 

 acres in extent. We have now to scud a punt and steam 

 launch up and down the river to get enough cane for 

 the mill. 



" The real cause of the present prosperity of the dis- 

 trict is corn, not cane. Corn pays well hero, and has 

 dono so far nearly three years past. Some years ago corn 

 fell in price, and it was ploughed out and cane put in. 

 Then corn went up and cane came down, and iu went 

 tho plough among the cane, and corn was started ; and 

 so it was, up and down, for a considerable time until the 

 frost attacked the cane severely, and then many abandoned 

 it finally. The following return of yields from cane-patches, 

 the produce from which has been crushed by us during 

 the present and two past years, will give an idea of the 

 yield of cane in this district:— 



— Sydney Mail. 



SKINNY MEN. 



"Wells' Health Renewer" restores health and vigor, cures 

 Dyspepsia, Impotence, Debillity. W. E, Smith & Co., 

 Madras, Sole Agents, 



THE CULTIVATION OF. WATTLES. 



The following is a digest of a report on the cultivation of 

 wattles by Mr. J. E. Brown, the Conservator of Forests, 

 which was laid on • the table of the Legislative Council 

 in Adelaide, South Australia. Mr. Brown says: — 



It is an undoubted fact that the bark of our wattles 

 is most highly appreciated by tanners in Europe and 

 elsewhere, and that were the supply regular, good in 

 quality, and up to tlie demand in quantity, the result 

 would be a regular market for all we could produce. No 

 bark or other material has yet been found in quantity 

 which contains an equal perceutage of tannic acid to 

 that of the broad-leaf wattle. Our colony is the principal 

 habit of the tree, and hence it remains with our- 

 selves to command the market by the production of a 

 thoroughly reliable article. There is no doubt that of 

 late years, owing to the comparatively inferior article 

 gathered, as well as the gradual decrease in quantity 

 available, our name as producers of wattle bark has been 

 seriously affected in the European market. It is only 

 within the last few years the fact has dawned upon the 

 public mind that the wattle-tree is capable, by systematic 

 application, of being cultivated as a highly remunerative 

 crop. That it is so there can be no doubt, and it is 

 evident that the proper cultivation of the tree opens 

 out for a large section of our farmers an industry which 

 will yield a return far more handsome than they havo 

 hitherto been receiving from cereals or stock. 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION, PHYSICAL PREDILECTIONS, AND RE- 

 LATIVE TANNIC VALUES OF THE WATTLE-TREES NAMED. 



For the guidance of those who may wish to outer iuto 

 the cultivation of the wattles as a crop, it is essential 

 that tho fullest information should be at once given in 

 regard to the general peculiarities of each of the species 

 referred to, their relative tannic values and adaptibility 

 to the soil and climate of the various districts of this 

 colony. These matters I shall now endeavour to give 

 under the respective names of the trees. Acacia pyc- 

 nantha, or the Broad-leaf Wattle. — This tree is common 

 to nearly all districts of the colony north of Encounter 

 Bay, and is occassionally to be met with along the coast 

 from Kingston to the Gleneig ltiver. Its principal habitat, 

 however, is in tho Adelaide hills and plains, from En- 

 counter Bay to Clare, For propagation purposes, seed 

 should, if possible, be obtained from trees grown within 

 these limits. In some parts of the North there is a 

 narrow-leafed variety, with the stem and branches covered 

 with a whitish substance, which it is desirable should 

 not be propagated, as the tree is of slow growth and 

 not attain payable dimensions. The species will grow 

 readily in almost till kinds of soils, but its rate of growth 

 is most rapid in those of a sandy character, while at the 

 same time the largest trees and the best bark is pro- 

 duced on sites where the .soil is sandy on top and of a 

 good retentive clay in the subsoil. With this tree we 

 have the means of making out' poorest soils yield valu- 

 able crops, instead of them lying comparatively idle and 

 worthless. In the South-East there are few at all present- 

 able places where this tree will not thrive. A. pycuautha 

 will do equally as well, and on the richer soils. In the 

 northern portions of the colony, that is north of Encounter 

 Bay, to the present limits of agricultural settlement, 

 more care will have to be exercised iu the selection of 

 sites for wattle plantations than is necessary in the South- 

 East. Taking the block of country lying between En- 

 counter Bay in the south, Mount Remarkable in the 

 north, Spencer's Gulf on the west, aud on the east from 

 the River Murray, along the line of the present limits of 

 cultivation, the hilly portions of it are all the natural 

 habitat of the species. Where tho soil is suitable on the 

 plains and other portions, within these four lines, not 

 embraced in the previous class of country, the broad- 

 leaved wattle can be cultivated with every probability of 

 a payable crop. Within the district defined there are 

 many places where it would not pay to cultivate the. tree. 

 Although it will grow to a fair size on highly calcareous 

 and saline soils, and yield an average perceutage of tannic 

 acid, still where these kinds of soils can be avoided it 

 is as well to do so. On such soils the growth is unusually 

 slow, and the trees die off at an early age. It is ad-g 

 visablc also to avoid sites where the soil is very stron 



