THE GARDEN.

Otago Witness, Issue 1650, 7 July 1883, Page 7

THE GARDEN.

NOTES FOR THE WEEK.

Last week I advised strongly the planting of fruit trees, and advisedly so, for I believe fruit to be one of the best paying crops that can be grown. If we look at the increase of population within the last twenty years and think what it is likely to be in another twenty years, and consider that we cannot grow a fourth of the fruit we consume now, is there not a good prospect of a market for all we can grow. I believe the population will increase faster than »ur orchards ; and of course the grower would have the advantage over foreign competitors in the freight that the foreign grower would have to pay, and would, besides, receive the higher price that homegrown fruit is always sure to bring, while there is less risk of loss. I spoke of only a few acres planted with fruit trees, but in America a few hundred acres would be thought little of. From an article in the Country Gentleman I learn that the extent of one orchard near Hudson, the fruit farm of Mr Robert M'Kinstry, is 300 acres, and contains 33,700 trees, the largest number of apple, pear, and cherry trees in the country, and probably in the world. The farm, of about 300 acres, is wholly planted with fruit trees. The soil is of a light, gravelly loam, with natural drainage, and is well adapted to the growth of fruit. The orchard extends for nearly one mile along the public highway and to over half a mile in the rear. From some points where a large portion is seen it appeared like a sea of trees. Six miles of orchard roads extend through the grounds for access to and the conveying away of the fruit. From 40 to 70 men are employed in gathering, assorting, packing, and drawing to the railway during the busy season, which extends from early in June to approaching winter. The apple trees number 26,000 ; the first were planted 23 years ago, and the average are about 14 years old. For a few years thby have borne good crops. Two years ago over 20,000 barrels were shipped to Europe. The shipping commences in August. The orchard is kept well cultivated, a fact which is considered to have improved the fruiting of tho trees very much, specimens of the Baldwin having been obtained which weighed lib, and of the Tompkins King weighing 21oz. The cherry has been found very profitable for market. The orchard contains 4500 cherry trees, containing over 20 sorts ; the trees are about 11 years old. Mr R. M'Kinstry has selected the varieties of the cherry, so that the different sorts ripen at different periods, preventing the pickers from being rushed with work at any time, and not more than thirty -five were required at once. These would gather about two tons in a day. Tweaty-five tons were sold, chiefly m New York, two years ago with scarcely the loss of a single bushel by rotting. These were sold in New York at from 7 cents to 18 cents per lb. If W6 take the average at 12 cents the 25 tons would bring about £1400, a very good return for, say, 40 acres. The soil appears to be well adapted to the growth of the cherry tree, and it is occasionally necessary to grow a crop of oats in the orchard to reduce the vigour of the trees and prevent the bursting of the bark. In this fruit farm there are also 2000 standard pear trees all very healthy and containing some of the best market sorts. There is also »n orchard of 1000 peach trees, and anct&er of 200 crabs of different varieties, and. a vinery of 1700 concord grapes. This w;ll sKow that the Americans are not afraid bo plant, and that they make it a profitable way of occupying the ground. Mr M^Kinstry is said to cultivate and work well his orchard by ploughing the space between the rows both* with horse and oxen, the oxen ploughing the ground nearer the trees, to avoid injuring with whiffiefcrees, care being taken to drive them gently, that they may move quietly. They soon learn to make voluntarily the required deviations to plough near, or between, the trees. lam not sure if ploughing and cultivating so. will not do more harm instead of good. If the ground has been well trenched ana manured when the planting I

is done it should not require anything for two or three years, with the exception of keeping down the weeds by cutting the grass, unless you can crop the ground with something that will pay all expense. I do not believe in double cropping unless tho ground be very rich and require it to reduce the vigour of the tvees. If you have to manure the ground you will find one crop quite enough unless for ajrear or two when the trees are small, and then I would prefer planting closer, with the view of transplanting the third or fourth year aa the trees get larger, which often has the tendency of throwing the tree into bearing if it has been growing in rich ground and making too much wood. This will save all necessity for root pruning, which has often to be resorted to when the tree has a tendency to run too much to wood, and in my opinion is the best methodj|of performing this operation. But when the trees get up so as to occupy all the ground and commence bearing they will not require any root pruning, and will only want a top dressing with manure every second or third year according to the nature of the soil, which, if rich, will not require any assistance for many years. It can easily b« told by any ordinarily observant man who is acquainted with trees whether the growth is vigorous enough or if it requires to be stimulated. Ohenies are only one of the products of an orchard, and one of the crops that are most likely to have a loss with, this fruit having so many enemies, and being so liable to the attacks of birds, &c. Now if there can be such profits got from an acre of cherry trees, what might we expect from a well arranged orchard talcing all the fruit combinations ?^ We hear of very large profits being made of peara sometimes. M. Eugene Forney, in the Jardinier Fruitier, says we may without exaggeration value the pears of the Duchessa variety, Duchesse d'Angouleme, which ia largely grown at the present time, annually sent out of Midland France, at over a million, francs (£40,000). From Angers, which is the cradle of this pear, the quantity sent away must be very considerable, without taking other places into consideration. It may be mentioned that as a rule over 230 tons of pears are annually cent away from Augers by rail during the months of September and October — more than half of which belong to this variety. M. Liron d'Airoles, in his" Notices Pomologiques," tells us that this famous fruit ia easily sent long distances, so much so, that in France it has literally become one of the most important imports amongst articles de luxe for the table. It would be difficult to say how many thousands of Duchesse d'Angouleme pears are annually exported from Nantes and its neighbourhood to England, Holland, Spain, Portugal, and the ports of Russia and the North of Europe generally, but more especially to Paris, where these pears are prized and as highly paid for. This pear tree is a very vigorous grower, soon developing its graft, and grows vigorously on any kind of stock. Its pyramids leave nothing to be desired, whether for the vigour of their growth or for their regularity. The original wilding of this famous pear must have lived to over the hundred years — and might have been mistaken for an oak tree at a distance instead of a large pear tree were it not for the difference of habit. The fruiting qualities of this variety are often prodigious, as well as the size of each pear. In 18G3 the Union of Paris in speaking on this subject says, " According to a Vervins paper^ a Duchesse pear tree was last year seen in this, locality which bore one thousand pears. We, have many instances of Duchesse pears weighing from lib to 1 4-51b." I do not believe that either Franc© or anyother country could grow better or more pears; than New Zealand. In Christchurcb last year1 saw the pear trees literally weighed to the ground with their load of beautiful fruit, and the ground strewn with pears in all directions. Even in some of the nurseries the young trees in the rows were over-loaded with fruit. This shows that our adopted country will grow the fruit if we will only take the trouble to plant the trees and attend to them properly. I believe there is no crop that will give such large profits with so little trouble and expense as fruit trees. And we must look forward to the, demand increasing very considerably in years, to come.