FRUIT.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 127, 21 February 1908, Page 7

FRUIT.

: & ■. ; . , THE MAHENO'S'GRAPES. Tlio Maheno's grapes were offered' at. the local auction rooms yesterday. Tlie quantity was loss than half that of last [week,- but the varieties and condition of tho fruit were a doeided improvement. They, game froniivarious shippers in New South Wales, and were chiefly black and white muscatols. Ridding was brisk,, and the congregation of buyers showed that''shopkeepers find tho grapes a marketable product oven at tho present' prices. Yosterday's shipmont brought from 8d to lid per lb. ■ AVhite varieties were especially well sought after. The demand for Now .Zealand grown grapes, seems also to be as strong as over'. ' The fruit season so far has' been a very good one . all round; better, said an auctioneer yesterday, than has been experienced for many years. Orchardists hare boen picking very 1 extensively lately. They require to do so, becauso if wind came tho fruit would fall readily. This, is ■ the' result of the dry ■woather which has taken a lot of the substance out of the trees. All fruit has riponed rWy well, and has come to market in great quantities. Yesterday, a typical market day, oases were arriving /at, the frmt market in constant loads. Tho whole of tho local supply is coming from New Zealand orchards, with the exception of pine-apples and grapes, which are imported from Australia. Motueka is tho chief supplying district, and large quantifies come from Nelson, Canterbury, Hastings, and Auckland. , If presont prices were always assured and all summers were as mild as tho present orto, no doubt many orchards would spring into existence on the outskirts of the city. "It would bo a paying industry," said a fruit merchant yesterday, : .■.