Nov. 2, 1920.] Agncultural Gazette of N.S.W. 773 



The Culture of Sugar Cane in 

 New South Wales* 



A. H. HAYWOOD, Manager, WoUongbar Experiment Farm. 



It has so long been accepted as a sine qua non of sugar cane-growing in 

 New South Wales that the area should be on the decline, that it is quite 

 refreshing to find an increased interest in the crop and in certain quarters 

 a confidence that some of the ground lost in the last decade is likely to be re- 

 occupied. The factors that most largely enter into this improved outlook 

 are, of course, the improved price offering for cane, and the fact that the 

 shortage in the world's stocks of sugar cannot be overtaken for some years. 

 Consideration of the subject on its practical side, too, provokes the feeling that 

 any improvement that may take place need not be a brief reaction coincident 

 with high prices, but that a pennanent establishment of the industry on 

 tlie solid basis of regular and 'reasonable profits should be possible. The 

 cane-grower has to meet competition of a character that the more important 

 crops of the State are free from, and he can only do it by the adoption of 

 such methods of culture as will give him substantially heavier and more 

 profitable crops than his competitors. 



One cannot but be impressed with the fact that the cane-grower on our 

 northern rivers — excellent fanner as he is in many ways— is neglecting 

 methods that would make for better and more profitable crops. Good 

 cultivation and selection of the best '' seed " from disease-free plants are 

 things the cane-grower is by no means ignorant of. Indeed, he will lay down 

 in definite terms the value of rotation and tell you that cane should not be 

 planted immediately after an old stand has been ploughed out; he will 

 enlarge on the value of cowpeas, and point out that maize is a very useful 

 change crop for cane land — but put these excellent doctrines into practice 

 it is to be feared he does not. Even the importance and value of careful 

 selection of his " seed " from stools free from disease the grower knows 

 something about, but one liesitatcs again to believe that he pays the atten- 

 tion lie might do to such sov.nd principles when it comes to the common- 

 place business of collecting the canes for purposes of propagation. Obviously 

 diseased plants are no doubt avoided, and to some extent weak and run-out 

 stools; but serious, careful selection in accordance with undeniable indica- 

 tions of health and virility is lacking in all but the very best farmers. 



, The Statistics of the Industry. 



It must not be imagined from the foregoing that while cane-growing 

 has been decadent in New South Wales, the importance of maintaining 

 the product per acre and the percentage of commercial sugar has been 

 altogether lost sight of. Statistics show that the area devoted to sugar 

 cane in New South Wales reached its maximum in the season 1895-6, 



