774 Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W. [Nov. 2, 1920. 



when the total was nearly 33,000 acres, i'rom that date there was a steady 

 decline, until in 1917-18 it was only 10,722 acres. Coincident with this 

 decrease, however, there has been a steady improvement in the production 

 per acre, for whereas in the nine seasons 1901 to 1910 tlie yield remained 

 practically constant at 21 tons per acre, the average has latterly shown an 

 upward tendency, and in the ten-year period 190S to 1918 the average was 

 2(ioS tons. 



The same improvement is apparent in the yield of sugar per acre, for 

 whereas in the earlier years of the industry it ran rather under 2 tons, in 

 the ten seasons 1908 to 1918 it averaged 305 tons per acre. The improve- 

 ment in the sugar content of the cane can be indicated in another way. 

 The Government Statistician tells us that in years gone by approximately 

 10 tons of cane were required to produce 1 ton of sugar, but in the decade 

 to 1918 only 8-65 tons of cane were required to give the same quantity of 

 sugar. These indications of improvement can be regarded Avith sincere 

 satisfaction, and without one whit abating the reservations already made 

 as to the necessity for employing the best and soundest methods. 



The Soil and Climate Necessary to Sugar Cane. 



For profitable production, sugar cane requires a deep rich soil that is 

 capable of supporting a heavy vegetative growth for a number of years, a 

 warm atmosphere, and a substantial rainfall. The soil should be porous and 

 friable without being sandy, and it should be thoroughly well drained, 

 either by reason of a suitable subsoil or of the natural fall. The temperature 

 should not only be mild, but there must be freedom from frost, and the 

 rainfall should be well distributed throughout the year. The belief that 

 sugar cane flourishes best near the sea because the saline particles conveyed 

 by the wind are congenial to the plant may be well founded, but perhaps 

 better reasons for the exuberant growth near the sea are the moisture that 

 accompanies a sea breeze even in the driest weather, and the freedom from 

 frost that the sea ensures. 



The North Coast of New South ^Yales affords all these conditions, frost 

 being the chief controlling agent and responsible for much of the contrac- 

 tion in area that took place in years gone by. The beautiful broad sheets 

 of water of the Clarence, Richmond, and Tweed rivers, as they approach 

 the sea, combine with their many creeks and channels to modify the tem- 

 peratures and thus prevent frost, and at the same time to aiford cheap 

 freight for a bulky crop that otherwise might be costly to handle. 



The conditions on the three rivers thus have strong resemblances, but 

 they also have important points of distinction, and on each river the 

 grower has his own peculiar difficulties, expressed perhaps most particularly 

 in the differences between the varieties chiefly grown on each river. 



The Clarence River Districts. 



On the Clarence Eiver the rainfall is lighter than on either of the other 

 rivers, and good cultivation together with the maintenance of the humus 

 content — two factors of universal significance where moisture is apt to be 



