STRAWBERRY HARVEST.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 301, 20 December 1926, Page 20

STRAWBERRY HARVEST.

GOOD SEASON FOB GROWERS I EVE OF THE PEAK SUPPLY. i A month ago, the strawberry growers ! around Auckland were anxiously contemplating the prospects of the season, but, although a shade late this year, it has developed with a rush linder the influence of genial sunshine, with the result that Christmas will see the peak ot the supply. It was stated to-day that the season, from the growers' point of view, promised to be a good one, and at the' moment the harvest is in full swing.. For many years the "Marguerite. berry has been the most popular, although thcstrains have become legion, so much so with, some that there is but little of the original "Marguerite" characteristics. '"Captain Cook" is a berry that has come into the forefront during the past few seasons, with a productivity equal to the "Marguerite." but with a greater favour from the buyer's angle, owing to its lusciousness. . In previous years. Birkenhead and ' Birkdale were regarded as the home of the strawberry-growing industry as far as Auckland is concerned, but it has now extended over a| big portion of the ! marine suburbs, while quite a new strawberry district has developed at Mt. Roskill and Hillsboro', where this season there is a.big acreage, and over a million and a-half of plants in the beds. Without being limited to any particular district, the strawberry does be{ter in some places than others, and experience has proved that certain soils have more satisfactory cultural results. This is the third season that the anti-topping regulation has been in force, and strawberries on the market this season have been of uniform good quality. It has been said—perhaps partly in jest—that it used to be a case of "nine on top and ninety below" as far as the packing of the punnet was con.cerned, tut beneficient legislation now decrees that the top layer on a box of strawberries must be a fair representation of the size, condition and maturity of the contents. This regulation is now being well observed. ;

Practically all the local strawberries are being absorbed x>n the Auckland market, one militating influence against export to other centres being the exceptionally quick-ripening of the fruit this year. For good conditioned berries the price to the public has been as low as a shilling a chip. As with all things, the immutable law of supply and demand operates, and it is thus possible that, over Christmas, prices will have a tendency to harden.