PEACE & PLENTY

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 29, 4 February 1914, Page 3

PEACE & PLENTY

HOROWHENUA'S BRIGHT PROSPECTS INCREASED ATTENTION TO FRUIT GROWING A kaleidoscopic picture of the "fat of the land" presented itself to those who visited the Horowhenua. A. and P. Society's Show at Levin last week. As an illustration of the richness of the Horowhenua plain, the show, and the features associated with it, were — even to the extraordinary number of farmers' automobiles that were in evidence — a striking lesson to those not familiar with the progress aoid prosperity of the district. Nature wa-s in a beneficent mood, instilling optimism into the most sceptical, and on all sides there was an air of peace and plenty. The gathering was in a sense a farmers' thanksgiving, so general was the remark : "The season is good." The opinion expressed by the Hon. R. H. Rhodes, in opening the show that everything pointed to a, prosperous season, was no mere platitude. When the Minister went on to congratulate the farmers on the splendid agricultural resources of the district he had also good grounds for his statement. Throughout Horowhenua the country is looking exceedingly well, and this season's harvest promises^ to be golden in every sense of tfie word. Thanks to a soil which, compares favourably with that of. any part of the Dominion, and to an indulgent climate, the season's' supply of milk has been exceedingly good. INTENSIVE FARMING IN THE FUTURE. Horowhenua is exceptionally well favoured by Nature, but the very fact that good returns are so easily assured to the landowner is, by a strange paradox, a hindrance to the greater development of the district's resources. Much wealth is yearly yielded by the soil, but this represents but a small portion of its latent productiveness. The land is not producing nearly as much as it is capable of, if worked to its fullest capacity. Intensive farming is at present a.t its infancy in the district, beine; practically a negligible quantity, remarked an agriculturist in conversation with a Post representative. The land, he added, is merely being scratched on its surface. In the hands' of a progressive American farmer, the splendid land comprising Horowhenua would enormously increase its yield. In California, where goldsluicing is gone in for, the desolate wastes left in the wake of the "sluicer" are converted into veritable gardens of Eden. As fast as a claim is woiked out it is treated specially and then planted with fruit-trees. As a result deserts have been turned into l'ich orchards. An isolated case of intensive farming is being provided at Koputaroa, and the owner of the farm is a woman. Her enterprise has been paid twofold. It is only a question of time before other farmers will '^perforce have to follow in her footsteps. Every year land available for settlement is becoming scarcer, and good land will before long be at so high apremium^ that no fanner who neglects to farm it to the best advantage will be able to make his fortune. The farmer of the future will assuredly have to go in for up-to-date and scientific methods. THE ADVENT OF FRUIT. Horowhemia's staple industry is dairying, but fruit farming is now also pushing to the fore. Tho climate is one of the finest in the Dominion, and altogether it is admirably suited for fruit growing. Horowhenua could" always grow fruit of a fine quality, but its cultivation has never been gone in for very seriously on a ldrge scale. Fruit has , in many cases been grown only as a side-line to other farm activities. The farmer has been inclined to simply plant the trees, pay them a modicum of attention, and let Nature do the rest. The farmer's first care has been for his live stock and •crops, and then, and not till then, has he seriously turned to his orchard. Consequently the orchard was neglected so much that it became a hot-bed for insect pests. The orchardist must specialise. Like beekeeping, fruit farming must be gone in for thoroughly and systematically if the results are to bo worth while, demanding practically the exclusive attention of the farmer. Having this in view, quite a number of fruit farms have been, and are being, laid out round about Levin. Recently the Government subdivided a block of land and threw it open for selection. The majority of its selectors are, a pressman was informed, going in for fruit farming. Another block — the Fairfield subdivision — has been cut up and settled, and there also most of the settlers are laying down their holdings in orchards. Also some farmers in other parts of the district are increasing the acreage they have in fruit. A GOLDEN HARVEST. Some of the crops that will be gathered this season will be considerable, and all are of excellent quality. Apples and peaches both grow to perfection in Horowhenua, and, both being very marketable _ lines, they are in most cases being given preference. The variety of apple that is most favoured in the district is the "Jonathan." It closely resembles the Californian apple, having much the same rosy exterior. Apples and peaches are not the only fruit, however, that thrive well in Horowhenua. Semitropical fruits do very well in sheltered spots, oranges and lemons ripening to perfection. Their cultivation has not been gone in_ for extensively, but their presence is significant of tlie suitabilty of both soil and climate for fruit growing generally.' Undoubtedly a glowing prospect is ahead of Levin as a fruit growing district, which is all the more assured through the gradual trend in the direction of securing the proper marketing oversea and the grading of the products of the orchard. Fruit has already been gone in for in the Levin district sufficiently to justify the existence pf a Fruit Growers' Association, which is doing much solid groundwork Amongst the farmers. According to one grower, the best results can only be secured by fruit growers following in the footsteps of tho dairy farmers and working on co-operative lines, as suggested in a recent article in The Post. Meanwhile a trip through the Levin and immediate districts would prove an "eye-opener" I to many.