Curl. — On the Growth of Sugar-Beet in New Zealand. 143 



after coming to this colony, by writing, and in various other ways, I 

 endeavoured to point out the great advantages that would follow the 

 introduction of this industry here ; but, further than this, with a view to 

 determine how far the climate and soil would be favourable to the forma- 

 tion and development of sugar in the beetroot here, I wrote to seedsmen in 

 France, Germany, and other countries, and imported seed of the several 

 kinds of beet, and grew it, and submitted it to various test cultures in this 

 colony ; and having tried the effects of different modes of culture upon the 

 various sorts of beet, I proved to my own satisfaction and that of the 

 friends who took an interest in these experiments, that not only would the 

 sugar-beet grow and flourish, but that under the ordinary plough and 

 harrow culture of the farm, it would produce a crop of from eighteen to 

 twenty-seven tons to the acre, but that with appropriate manures and 

 careful cultivation, this quantity could be considerably exceeded, and that, 

 in proportion to other parts of the world, very large crops could be grown 

 here. 



But as all who know anything of beet culture and manufacture will re- 

 cognize, it is not only the quantity of tons of beetroot to the acre that is 

 the great desideratum, but more especially the percentage of sugar that the 

 roots contain that makes the greatest difference. To determine this, I 

 analysed, and in other ways tested, this percentage of sugar, and afterwards, 

 by " maceration and diffusion," extracted the sugar, and crystalhzed what 

 was crystallizable, and the molasses left fermented, and distilled off the 

 alcohol, and by these several methods checked and verified the results ; and 

 I found that this climate would enable beets to be grown that had a very 

 high percentage of sugar in proportion to that produced from the same kind 

 of seed in the other countries from which they came, as the following details 

 will show. 



The seeds which were obtained from France and Germany were said to 

 have a percentage of sugar in the same kind of roots, the previous year to 

 my obtaining seed, as that given below, and the average of my tests from 

 several roots selected at various parts of the field when grown, and tested 

 by the different methods, gave as under. 



Betterave blanche 



. . 9J per cent, of sugar in France. 



With me 



. . 12 per cent. 



Disette blanche a collet rose 



. . 7 per cent, of sugar in France. 



"With me . . 



. . 9 per cent. 



Disette blanche a collet vert 



. . 8 per cent. 



With me . . 



. . 9^ per cent. 



Betterave Vilmorin 



. . 16 per cent. 



With me . . 



. . 17^ per cent. 



Betterave jaune globe 



. . 6 per cent. 



