The Vine in the North.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 284, 1 December 1898, Page 19 (Supplement)

The Vine in the North.

THE late Judge Fenton hr great confidence in th future before the grap vine and the wine industr in the northern parts c Auckland province^ Tim has yet to show whethc his confident anticipation were misplaced, and it may fairl be said that the time is 'not fc distant when there will be som chance of finality in answerin that question which has fc several years proved a bone c contentious argument —'is the Aucl land province suited to the out-doc growth of the varieties of vines ac apted to wine production?' The lat Mr Fenton was not simply a thcoris and on his farm of 'Croslands.' Sout Kaipara. he did a great deal, toward the solution of the problem for th bringing forward of which so pre minently he was very largely respoi sible. The -work commenced som few years ago is being carried on b .Messrs Fenton, and Mr JL J-.. Fento when lit town recently gave th writer some account of what has s .^^-gt^-J^eer. -~ii_e. at 'Croslands,' and c "trie ]irogress made in the north i testing the capabilities of the counfr iir the direction of wine producing. ' 'To understand, the present pos tion,' said Mr Fenton. 'it is almos essential that one should know some thing of the history of the vine i the province. It seems that be for the history of New Zealand com jiienced as' a British colony Mr Wil Ham Busby introduced close on 1 Of) varieties of the vine at the Bay o Islands. According to all account many of these did remarkably well a the 'beginning out of doors, bearin; good crops. 'After a lime, howevei indium, a mildew disease, aitaeke them, and as no remedy was foun for it and no one devoted any pai ticnlar attention to the vines the, died away. As perhaps you kno\

tliis disease later attacked the vines of France, but a comparatively simple process-of keeping its ravages down with sulphur was discovered. In Jew Zealand, however, nothing was clone with regard to the outdoor grape till a very few years ago. Oitluim still existed, and checked the grapes, but the disease was found amenable to the French treatment when attention was again first directed to the grape, four or five years ago. That the disease is easily kept under is perhaps as well demonstrated by the fact that a Taranaki grower last, season obtained from .000 to 1200 gallons to the acre oil' vines recognised. as particularly susceptible to oidium.' 7 «When did your own experiment at ■{Croslands" " commence?' ''%Ye planted some eighty or ninety ■\L about eight years ago. These }■■ l"l- however, left pretty much to I k ;fter themselves, and it was not fc iv - years later when we found * tended plants bearing ft ;- "\imndred weight of grapes that, to l> ' *^ned a comprehension oi: the 7' v \ \that seemed to be in grape 7-7" |y e have now 8 acres i fkbout 30 varieties. The

AN INTERVIEW WITH A GROWER.,

id soil is sandy loam plou.°bed to a e depth of about twelve inches, and the. , c plants grew remarkably well; in fact vso much so that 2-year-old plants )f produced runners up to twenty yards ie lo.-i_>-. This excessive growth pre,r vents the adoption of the common 1S European system of pruning back to v a comparatively small head, and in iV-'act necessitates the use. when the ie plant approaches the bearing stage, o-of a trellis.' » >r 'You have of course had some reJ'f suits from some of the vines'." , c" 'Yes; an acre of three-year-old ,r vines commenced bearing last season -Kind the indications were that when em full bearing the crop will be proclitic. The acre was principally the n Pinot Meunier (Miller's Pinot), so ls named either because of the floury ie nature of the grape or after the '"great nurseryman of that name. We 25 gallons of wine from these ie first fruits of the new plantation, >'and as far as I can see it will prove na good coloured claret. Some of the. iefamous Red Hermitage grape came ;o into bearing also last season, and )f the bunches, though few, were com--11 posed of fine large clear skinned. • v good flavoured fruit. Mr 11. •lackman made some TOO gallons of wine '"from three quarters of an acre of ;t Isabella grapes last season, but this ""grape, it is admitted, does not pron duee a very good quality wine, and e Mr .laekman proposes, should the !'other varieties do well as he expects, to graft them on to the Isabella j! stocks.' 'Do you propose extending your V area?' * 'The work of doing that has been 'proceeding through the late winter daud spring with the result that this clyear sees us with an additional eight •-'acres under vines. The Government V imported something like 5<i,000 vine ,'v cuttings last year, of which :;o,(j(.i()

were given to the North Auckland Yinegrowers' Association and oi the latter number we. received aud planted 4000. F3esides this wc .imported a large number of cutting:... compris-

inp; several varieties from Messrs Hardy and Hon, South Australia.'

'it'is not surely intended. 1o keep up anything like the number of varieties you seem to have planted.-" 'Oh,' dear, no! The present work is largely experimental. When we have decided which gives the best promise we propose adhering- to some two or three Avhitc and two or three red varieties. 'The usual course in winemaking is to blend, using one variely because of the quantity it produces, a second to give colour lo the wine, and a third for flavour.'

'When will the suitability of the industry for the North be really adequately tested."

'As far iis our own experiment Is concerned next year we. will have a siiflieient area ol' four-year-old plants in bearing- to at least satisfy ourselves as to whether the grape will bear prolifically enough and berries of g-ood enough quality lo ensure the success of vine-growing on a commercial basis. The same holds good to a very large extent of many other considerable areas of the northern vines. This will be their fourth season, and they should give a good indication of their bearing- capabilities. Of the result I have personally no doubt, being- confident- that the vine in the Auckland Province will prove more productive than in .Australia. 1 hough the quality of the grapes may not be quite so good. In This opinion T by no means stand alone, as it is pretty safe to say that a majority of northern settlers have confidence in the adaptability of the vine to ihe northern climate, and large areas of land in the North, not excepting some of the poor gum areas. Many of these settlers have more substantially demonstrated tlu-ir confidence than by words in planting small areas with vines.' Ms there anything that might be done to foster the industry. 'In that direction, perhaps, the most serviceable thing tint could be done would be the appointment by the Government of a wine-making expert. The North Auckland Vinegrowers' Association has really made its object the maintaining of a co-op-erative spirit among the growers. It is estimated in Australia that it will not pay a man with less than twenty acres under vines to go in for making his own wine, and most of the Northern growers will not put down

any-tliing like such an west as that. One of the objects'of the Association is, therefore, to establish a factory on the co-operative principle, when the adaptability of the grape is more

fully tested, and so . obviate small growers having to make their own wine.'

•If everyone approaches the subject in the spirit of Messrs Fentoit Bros, there should be. no doubt, once that perplexing problem of 'will the grape bear well' is settled, of the future of vine-growing and wine-making in the province.