LARGE SUPPLIES

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 92, 19 April 1945, Page 7

LARGE SUPPLIES

FOOD FOR THE FORCES AUCKLAND'S GOOD SEASON As a result of a bountiful season no difficulty is being experienced this year in filling the monthly quota requirements of vegetables for export from Auckland, to Allied forces in the Pacific, and in some cases, carrots and cabbage particularly, the supply has been almost embarrassingly large. This is attributed to the bountiful season. The outlook to-day is regarded as exceptionally good, and it is stated that growers have been greatly helped by most favourable autumn conditions. After the dismal failure of State market gardens in the past two years commercial growers in the Auckland Province have been called upon and are doing their utmost this year to meet wartime demands. For the past six months they have been intensively cultivating new areas, converting farmlands into gardens, and increasing the acreages of existing gardens. For them the summer was the busiest they have known, and to-day the results of their efforts are seen in fine crops of cauliflowers, cabbage, lettuce, celery and other vegetables close to maturity. Partly the task has fallen to Chinese growers, many of them in the vicinity of Auckland, and others at Ohakune, but in the Pukekohe and Bay of Plenty districts people of New Zealand stock are making an important contribution. AIL combined should supply the Government with tens of thousands of tons of the vegetables needed, much of it for American forces in the Pacific, through the U.S. Joint Purchasing Board. According to one estimate, the quantity would be reckoned in six figures. Loss of Fertile Lands "The gardeners have been knuckling down in great style," said an authority in the city to-day. "The chief difficulty has been to secure suitable land at short notice. Much of the best for market gardening, probably the best in the province, is that on the warm, sheltered eastern slopes overlooking the Tamaki River, which has been taken by the Government for State housing. The lease of about 100 acres of this land will be terminated at the end of June, and the tenure of the reniaining 500 acres under cultivation in the same locality has not long to run. Therefore the outlook of the Chinese who are working it is uncertain. The land is volcanic loam, much of it cultivated for up to 40 years, ind by proper maintenance it has been kept in a high state of fertility." Under skilled treatment the Tamaki gardens had produced up to three and a half crops a year, a remarkable achievement, it was stated. It not only supplied the earliest Auckland markets, but also made a large contribution to the city's needs in the late autumn and winter. In fact, it was the main reservoir for vegetables that Auckland possessed. Growing Perishable Crops To some extent the loss of Tamaki areas would be offset by opening up gardens at Glendowie, under shortterm lease, it was learned, but the term granted was too limited to ensure the best results. On these eastern suburban gardens to-day cauliflowers, celery and lettuce were the principal crops being produced under contract to the Government. In appearance they contrasted strikingly with the diminutive and poor quality produce which the Government had attempted to raise so recently at Mangere, Belmont and other places, where acre upon acre of crops had to be ploughed in because they were unmarketable. Marketing of the present crops should begin in earnest next month and would continue through the winter, said a city man, who expressed confidence that there would be a larger supply for the forces than was available last year. Already there was a noticeable upward trend in consequence of the change over from Government to commercial gardens. This expansion was being achieved without any marked increase in the labour employed and without much extra machinery. A Bountiful Season "Production from the commercial gardens is several times as great as that from State gardens in the case of the majority of vegetables," said another authority. "More skill, knowledge, enterprise and willingness to work are needed than the Government realised when it embarked on its ventures. At busy times the private grower appears able to make the extra effort which the Government could not." Pukekohe was doing a great deal to satisfy requirements in root crops, and in greens which could be processed at the dehydration plant, and these efforts were being supplemented by Ohakune and Bay of Plenty growers, he added. Production of the more perishable crops was left to growers closer to the city.