Nov. 2, 1920.] Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W. Ill 



river close at hand, and the ocean only a mile or so away, the strip of hio-hly 

 fertile land that separates the river from the sea has such favourable 

 conditions for this crop as exist hardly anywhere else in Australia. The 

 alluvial flats along either bank of the river are well suited to cane, but 

 further back are many acres of tea-tree scrub with a black soil, rich in 

 organic matter, and a few inches or more deep, resting- on a bed of clay 

 that in turn rests on pure sand. The area of this formation is extensive, 

 commencing not far from Ballina, and reaching up to and beyond Broad- 

 water. In parts the tea-tree runs up tall and straight — the evidence of 

 excellent soil — and where this is being felled and brought under cane, £S0 

 is mentioned as a sum for which an owner would not readily sell. Though 

 not quite on the banks of the river, the tempering influence of sea and 

 river are sufficient insurance against frost. Drainage is essential to success 

 on these lands, for they are low and often almost without fall. In places 

 drains 10 feet to 14 feet wide have already been cut, but it is obvious that 

 such high-priced land is going to be held in small blocks, and the con- 

 struction of the drains must therefore be accomplished by some local 

 authority, or by the co-operation of the owners. The Colonial Sugar 

 Refining Company already has schemes for the drainage of extensive ai'eas 

 of these lands, and should they be proceeded with the effect on the industry 

 on the Richmoud is certain to be expansion. 



The effect of excessive moisture on sugar cane could hardly be better 

 illustrated than by the crushing figures of the Broadwater mill for the last 

 three seasons : — 



In 1D17, .s;!,000 tons of cane were crushed. 

 In 1918, tiO,000 tons of cane were crushed. 

 In 1019, oT.OOO tons of cane were crushed. 



This startling decline is connected by the company's officers at the Bro:;d- 

 water mill with two vei*y wet seasons. The young plants are always very 

 sensitive to bad drainage and never seem to recover fully, and in the 

 seasons 191() and 1917 they were nearly drowned out, the effect upon the 

 crushing being indicated when the crops reached maturity two years later. 

 That a rem(^dy is within reach for supersaturation of the soil has already 

 been indicated. 



Apart from the tea-tree forest, much of the land suitable for sugar cane is 

 already under crop, but where dairying has displaced it for the time being 

 there is no reason to doubt that the crop will gradiuilly come to its own 

 again, and it should be years before the Richmond loses pride of place in 

 New South Wales in tlie matter of area under cane. 



In the matter of yield, the Broadwater mill claims for its district the honor 

 of the highest average yield per acre among all the company's mills, thougli 

 in this respect the Richmond cane has the advantage of two years' growth as 

 against eighteen months' growth in some of the Queensland districts. Last 

 year Broadwater was also amongst the company's best in the matter of quality 

 of cane crushed. The new planting this year should, exceed 2,000 acres, 



