FROST DAMAGE TO FRUIT

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25932, 12 October 1949, Page 4

FROST DAMAGE TO FRUIT

HEAVY LOSSES INDICATED A survey carried out by officers of the Department of Agriculture in fruit-growing areas near Christchurch shows that the damage done by the recent heavy frosts will result in a 75 per cent, loss in pear crops, and heavy stone fruit losses. An officer of the department said yesterday that stone fruit crops in the Horotane valley and Avoca valley areas, except those on the higher levels, would probably be a total loss. Stone fruit crops in the Loburn district would also be a probable total I loss. It was not known at present how Central Otago crops had fared, but the local losses were bound to affect materially the supplies available to the public. Apples had not been affected as badly as other fruits, the officer said. Damage varied with the different types, and the later varieties had suffered comparatively little damage. In Loburn the general damage to apple crops was worse than at Papanui. A further survey will be made bv the department at the end of this week.