Experimental Fruit Farms.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 701, 10 November 1909, Page 5

Experimental Fruit Farms.

At tlie conference of delegates ot the fruitgrowers' associations at Wellington last week it was decided, on the motion of Mr Bennetts (Roxburgh), to request the Minister of Agriculture to establish an experimental station in the Suuth Island similar to those in the North island. Liter on the Minister of Agriculture informed a deputation that he considered that co-opcnilivc experiments in fruit-growing would be more useful than the establishment of an experimental fruit station in the South Island. If the association would hud reliable men who would give and tend an acre of orchard ground the department would supply the trees and manures, and would get from the growers an estimate ot the cost of the labor. ! If the department contributed half the cost of the labor lie thought it I would do very well, lie could not I promise to contribute hall, the cost | of labor. That would depend on j what it came to. They did not pay j anything for the work on other I experimental plots that were con- | ducted on the same system. He ! wanted to encourage the fruit-grow-i ing industry on lines that would not L cost so much as experimental farms.