LEMON GROWING.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 30, 5 February 1908, Page 3

LEMON GROWING.

BAY OF PLENTY PROSPECTS. PROPOSED EXPERIMENTAL WORK. Referring to the subject of lemongrowing Mr. Boucher, Government pomologrisi, who rocently returned to Auckland from a visit" to the Bay of Plenty, spo'.co very hopofully to a, Herald reporter of Iho prospects thore. "Not a great dccl oF progress has been made there lately," he be id, "although tho soil and climatic conditions are ideal for fruit culture. The industry appears to bo somewhat handicapped through the means of communication with the other, markets of the Dominion being so floor and inadequate. Tt scorns to mo that, as far as this disuicl is coneernod, the most proiitabla course for growers to take would be the cultivation of fruit for canning 1 ' and dossort purposes. Canned fruit can bo shipped at any -inie, but, fresh _ fruit is such a perishable product' that it must be on tho market within a. limited time, in order to arrive in sound condition. There is no reason, in my opinion, why tho cultivation of tho lomon should not prove very profitable in the Bay of Plenty district. The trees there thrive, and the fruit, produced is of good quality, The main difficulty *o far appears to havo been in tho handling of tho fruit, tho /rrovi-n r.ot recognising that r-peoutl me? ns must bo taken for gathering it, and t'aat the lemons, when firpt taken from tho trest, must bo handled as carefully m eccgs, m order to prevent biuisinir, 'whioh is absolutely fatal to Ions; heaping 1 . As tho main crop, of the lemon orrivos at maturity in tLo winter, i when tho demand is at its lowest point, profitable remits from a lemon orehavrl I can only- bn derived by growing and koepinpf until the worm woathor seta in, nud prices go up with an increased demand. _ ! '"There is n« reason why, with careful handling, curing, and storing, tho local product should not compete successfully with the i'niortod Mediterranean lemor, and eventually supply our markets entirely and it is probable that tho department will undertake experimental work to domonjtrate that curing and keeping are not only foasible but oxceodincrly profitable^ In all probability steps will be taken in this direction to deal | with portion of tho canning crop. "The woik of the department in ether respects is _pro(tresßin f f satisfactorily, and o.i sound iin«," concluded Mr. Boucher.