FRUIT-GROWING IN HAWKE’S BAY

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 297, 12 September 1934, Page 8

FRUIT-GROWING IN HAWKE’S BAY

Output Of Eight Hundred Thousand Cases a Year but times are. hard FOR ORCHARDISTS (From a Special Reporter). Hastings, September 11. An official estimate of the quantity of orchard fruit sent out from the Hawke’s Bay district last season is approximately 800,000 cases of apple-?, pears, peaches, cherries and plums. It is explained, however, that a complete record of the marketed yield cannot be given, because no tally has been taken of the outgoing fruit carried by motor transport, which is known not only to. be substantial, but also to be increasing rapidly every season. The export trade took 300,000 cases (apples, 230,000; pears, 70,000), the bulk having been railed to and shipped from Wellington. An experimental shipment of &Ju'ms was sent to London, but the results, so far as the latest accounts reveal, have not excited local enthusiasm. There is intention to try again. Export prices for apples and pears generally were appreciably higher compared with the exceptionally low rates in 1932. This improvement was most marked in respect of pears. Apples probably averaged 9/- a 40pounds case in London, and pears 12/The exchange rate, it is pointed out. has greatly benefited exporters. Everything considered, however, ’ exporter’ agree that the growers have experienced lean years, during the depression, and still are far short of obtaining a net return of.ore penny a pound. ■ The New Zealand market took 500,000 cases of mixed fruit, although the bulk of this trade comprised peaches and plum’ Stone fruit usually is packed in 201 b. cases. Prices to growers were not considered very profitable; under the general effect of the lower purchasing power of most households, luscious peaches are apt to be classed as a luxury. The Producers. In the comely land within a few miles’ raditis of Hastings, there are about 300 commercial orchardists, most of them working small holdings up to 10 or 12 acres. The chief districts are Havelock to the cast 1 , Twyford to the west, and Pakowai, about midway between Hastings and Napier. Even from flat country at a distance the orchards are easily located: tall poplars mark their boundaries and westerly winds in the equinoctial period fret the fruit trees and harass growers, who pin their faith largely on shelter belts of poplars, There is a considerable area around Bayview given over to the cultivation of tomatoes in the open. The place is comparatively free of frost, while a generous climate saves most growers the initial cost of expensive glasshouses. Elsewhere, wheu late frost threatens orchards, growers combat the' menace by artificial heat throughout the area, the temperature being raised by warmth from hundreds of pots with oil or coal as fuel. The danger of springtime frost discourages the commercial cultivation of strawberries on a noticeable scale, and the same may be said generally about tobacco. Here and there in a small way, several orchardists are experimenting with the weed, which mostly is cured for their own use. An Early Show of Blossom. It is as yet too early to see Hawke’s Bay orchards in their glory, although in favoured places eager cherry plum trees flaunt their blossom in a challenge to willows, which have broken into a shrill green earlier this year than usual. Most of the poplars remain depressed. The general trimness of the orchards and their evidence of stimulating cultivation draw (the attention of passers-by. Fruit trees as a rule are kept clean and safeguarded against another serious outbreak of the dreaded llrcbllght. Two Government inspectors and a vigilant committee maintain alertness throughout the district. Few trees have had to be destroyed. . Nearly all the best-known varieties of apples are grown in the district. Sturmers are said to do exceptionally well. But most growers have their own favourites and no one appears eager to name any particular variety as being the most suitable for the countryside. The average yield of fullbearing hard fruit trees is estimated at from 350 to 400 pounds; occasionally a “willing” tree in a good season yields up to 1200 pounds. In respect of stone fruits there Is 'po canning factory In the district. Many cases of William bon Cretien pears, however, are sent to Auckland for canning. Local timber is used largely in the milling of fruit cases, as many as 200.000 being supplied in a, season, and all the woodwool used for packing fruit is made from local timber. This industry has been running for six or seven years Thousands of bales of strawboard are manufactured in New Zealand. A Steadying of Planting. Planting of fruit trees during recent years represented an additional hundred acres of orchards annually, but this rate of expansion has dropped severely since the depression. In normal times orchardists “could make a reasonable living,” hut growers think that those days seem loth to return. “We pull ip our belts and eat an apple a day,” said a grower, facetiously. The cold-storage capacity in the Hastings district is approximately 160.000 cases of fruit. Since almost everybody in ■Hawke’s' Bay discusses the projected harbour at Napier for the accommodation of overseas vessels, it may be mentioned that a fruit exporter asserts that growers would save sixpence a case if all their' export fruit could he put over the wharf into ocean-going ships at Napier.