SMALL FRUITS CROPS

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21377, 21 January 1935, Page 5

SMALL FRUITS CROPS

WAIMATE PRODUCTION SATISFACTORY The hot weather has caused the small fruits crops in Waimate to mature three weeks earlier than is usually the case. Prospects were entertained early in the season of a. very exceptional yield from raspberries, but hot weather and drying winds adversely affected the crop. Nevertheless, fruit farmers gathered a crop that was well in advance of the average, and the majority of growers secured a steady market for their fruit. The strawberry crops were unduly forced by the wet weather, followed by excessive sunshine, and as a consequence picking finished early in the New Year. One grower states that his plants give every prospect" of a second crop about Easter. In the raspberry crop this second growth, which usually prolongs the season for some time after the main crop is finished, has not so far developed to the same extent as in previous years, but the recent falls of rain may possibly extend the fruiting period. Because of the earlier season many growers experienced difficulty in obtaining sufficient pickers at the peak of the season. During a hot spell, when fruit ripened quickly, one raspberry grower employed as many as 100 pickers. The early season had the further effect of putting on the market supplies of raspberries at a bad time of the year, with the result that a slight depression in prices resulted. The easing was definitely not due to a glutted market, and the majority of fruit growers who have sold either locally or in city markets state that this season they have had a greater demand for fruit and have received prices in advance of those of recent seasons.