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rain. Then, regarding the coxintry near Mansfield, a resident of much experience says — “The soil and 
climate of this district are admirably adapted for the growtli of sngar-boet and sorghum. The soil has one 
of the great essentials for the growth of sugar-making plants : it is full of lime, and totally free from salt 
(chloride of soda), which, I am told, is most important.” The presence of such salts in portions of the 
colony it is said will prove a difficulty in the way of sugar-making, but the two districts specially alluded to 
may be taken as samples of many others in which calcareous and volcanic soils predominate. Grown on these, 
the juice of the beet will always be free from the saline matters which give the sugar makers so much 
trouble. A large part of Gippsland is also very suitable for the growth of this root, and consequently ior 
the making of sugar. In the warmer portions of the colony, where beet would be an uncertain croji, some 
of the many varieties of sorghum or imphee, of the Chinese or African sugar-cane, may be grown with 
facility. It is said also that sugar is now made with advantage, both in Europe and America, from melons 
and pumpkins. If such is the case, these can, of course, be readily grown in any quantity where the 
climate is too warm for beet. 
But, while pointing out the facilities we enjoy for raising sugar-yielding plants, the correspondents 
of the Commission have not overlooked the real difficulty — that of finding a market or sale for the raw 
material. The proprietors of manufactories will be the only purchasers, and how can capitalists be induced 
to erect these in anticipation of a supply of the raw material on which to operate ? The farmers may not 
have capital to spare to allow of their erecting machinery on the co-operative principle, and men of business 
will scarcely be induced to speculate in this direction, unless the factory to be erected near Geelong 
should be a pecuniary success. 
FIBRES. 
The demand having been so great of late years, as a matter of course not an important plant known 
to be capable of producing fibre valuable to the manufacturer has been overlooked. But, as in sugar- 
making, so the difficulty is to show how the preparation for market can bo encouraged. It is suggested 
that there are many persons in the colony skilled in the growth of flax, for instance; but it is also said 
that they want some special inducements here to return to an occupation which they followed with 
advantage in their native country. In the opinion of a few of the respondents, (he erection of scutching- 
mills would be sufficient to lead to the growth and preparation of flax on an extended scale in some parts 
of the country, while the majority believe that nothing short of a high bonus will suffice. As was done 
ill Queensland with cotton, a certain sum might be offered for each bale of marketable fibre up to a given 
number, or for the fii’st ton, and the industry thus stimulated into existence would bo carried on if found 
to be profitable. Beyond this the suggestions do not go ; but it would seem from the tenor of the evidence 
that, if the preparation of vegetable fibres is to become an important industry here, there must be a division 
of labor — in the growing of the plants, and the preparation of these for market. 
VEGETABLE OILS. 
The most important of these is probably olive oil, and that in time will be produced most advan- 
tageously here. The Commission is already in possession of excellent samples produced near Melbourne 
and Geelong and the growers of the tree at Bontherambo, near Wangaratta, say — “ We have about twelve 
acres of olives, which have grown and bear remarkably well. We have made forty or fifty gallons of good 
marketable oil, but have hitherto found the cost of gathering the fruit too expensive to allow' cf the 
manufacture being profitable.” At Adelaide Ihc gathering has been c.ffectod cheaply by children. Accounts 
of the olive grow’ing and bearing wwll have been received from almost nil parts of the colony ; and wdicro 
tire tree thrives means wdll be found of preparing the oil with jiront. For ex.ample, in Italy (he fruit of 
the olive is mostly allowed to become so ripe that it can be shaken off into cloths placed beneath the 
trees, wdien the cost of gathering becomes a mere trifle. 'I'he item of expense, so formidable to the 
gentleman at Wangaratta, can thus bo almost entirely obviated, and the oil yet obtained of good quality. 
In France, Spain, and Portugal, the system is generally to pick or beat off the fruit before it is quite 
ripe; Imt the average of Italian oil is quite as good as (hat produced in the countries named, and why should 
not the Italian system amswer here, if we get the right varieties of olive for it ? The almond also is 
mentioned as a tree from wliich oil may bo expected in large quantities^ It grows w ith the greatest facility, 
and comes into bearing more quickly than the olive. Whatever doubt there may be about the grow'th of flax 
for fibre being profitable, there seems to bo none about the seed paying; and we m.ay quickly produce all the 
linseed oil wo require, if only mills be erected for pressing this out. Two correspondents of the Commission 
have gained experience in America in the preparation of oil from the castor-oil bean and the seeds of the 
sunflower, and say that these oils can be produced w'ith profit here. The item of Labor would bo no higher, 
and in other respects our advantages are at least equal. Then the poppy and different jilants bearing small 
seeds have been mentioned as likely to be desirable for oil-making purposes ; but the chief difficulty plainly 
is to introduce first the manufacture of oils better known and more largely used. 
STARCH AND ARROW'ROOT. 
The want of a starch factory is said to bo seriously felt in more than one district, to turn to account 
much agricultural produce now w'asted ; but this is no novel industry, for starch of every kind has been 
made here at different times. Arrowroot has been suggested as a product likely to bo profitable. 
POTASH AND ACETIC ACID. 
A considerable quantity of potash is now used hero, and it is a question if that could not be added 
to the list of colonial products with benefit. The scrub in the Capo Otway forests, as well as in other 
parts of the colony, has been suggested as a source whence all we require might be obtained for many 
years to come, and if the potash could be saved with 2>i'ofit, the destruction of the scrub would be a twofold 
gain. Acetic acid is another product mentioned, and in the large forests there is much timber of an 
inferior kind, which might bo well devoted to the purpose, if the consumption would bo sufficient to allow 
of erecting the necessary works. 
