FRUIT PROBLEMS

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 135, 5 December 1930, Page 10

FRUIT PROBLEMS

MR. HATTON'S VISIT

PROBLEMS TO BE SOLVED

IMPEESSED WITH COUNTRY

After an extensive, if rapid, tour of the fruit districts of New Zealand, Mr. E. G-. Hatton, representing the Imperial Board of Fruit Production, leaves the Dominion this afternoon for Aus- i tralia, where he will also investigate C fruit problems. The object of his tour, c he remarked to-day, has been to estab- i Jish personal contact with research ( workers abroad and to obtain first- c hand knowledge of the local conditions. Many of the problems confront- ] ing fruit growers in the colonies were s very similar to those experienced in s England. Research into these problems r had been going on for 17 or 18 years, and it was the bureau's function to cir- ! culariso the information it had ac- ( quired. Many mistakes had been made E before the best way to tackle the problems had been devised, but research workers in the Dominion and else- ' where should be able to profit by these i and to begin at the-point now reached by workers in England, thus saving both time and money. j Mr. Hatton expressed himself as very; ; favourably impressed by some of the: fruit areas he had visited. After his arrival in Wellingon, he went to Ha^vkes Bay. Fruit growing there, he says, is well developed and shows much evidence of thorough work. "It is a j fine area, a lovely district, and ha* j good fruit; but of course it has it j. troubles just as all fruit growing di: jtricts have." From Hawkes Bay b cis itinerary took him to Auckland, yin Taupo. Strawberry growers in Au< ikland, he said, were confronted with much the same troubles as growers /in England, and he thought that ,the bureau would be able to help t' hem. materially. In some of the apple :'and citrus orchards around Auckland 1 Jiere seemod to be too much growth, / and he wondered if some means couli J not be devised to check it with im.} >rovement to the fruit. From Aucklai jh Mr. Hatton returned to 'Wellington 1 fia the Waikato, Palmerston North, and Wanganui. Pear problems in the V Taikato he thought could bo tackled alo: ag English lines, and he. was much in lpressed by the experimental work beii ig done by the Government in vine ■ jculture. Although fruit growing was 1 (is main objective, Mr. Hatton found ;.time to visit the Waitomo Caves, whic' i greatly impressed him. Mt. Eginont di isappointcd him in that, when half-way .■ up it, a snowstorm forced a return to ;the base. After attending several fi suit conferences in Wellington, at wh jell he met representative growers from 1 all parts of the Dominion, Mr. Hatti jn went to Nelson. He was much impr ijssed with the work of the Cawthro k Institute and with the fruit lands 5 i\ that district. "The poor soil of t die Moutere Hills was very interesting /to me," he said, "because its formal is very similar to that where in E» Jgland I have chosen to plant an orchf trd. Properly treated, this land obvioi isly produces a sturdy and hardy typo ,!of fruit tree. I saw some very wonder $ul orchards here." The better soil /around Motueka and Biwaka, and the /general aspect of these districts, witn the hops and small fruits, reminded b im, he said, of his own county of Ker it. The smallfruit growers' problems there were again similar to those confronting English growers and he Y?«puld be able to help. ' ' '! ■ From Nelson he wentj, to Christchurch, visiting the Governmc «it plantations at Hanmer on the way. iJIe was much interested in some of th p old Christchurch orchards, planted 50 for 60 years ago, with stock differen jt from that used now, also in the nic jfthod of growing cherries with trees /twelve feet apart and fifteen feet hig;Ji. "Rather different from ours 40 fo apart and 50 feet high, and of coufa t> your method produces its own special problems as to cultivation and nutrition." Summing up his,' general impressions of fruit growing "in New Zealand, Mr. Hatton said that pome remarkably fine work had been a r,eomplished. Many of the cultural prol jlems were similar to those experience i elsewhere, but some growers were ir iclined to wait for the scientist to pro' Juce a cure-all, like a conjurer bringin ,g a rabbit out of a hat, instead of tak jmg common-sense steps as regards ni jitural sanitation and hygiene for th eir trees. Mr. Hatton fconcluded by saying that ho had met with nothing bufkindness and assistance > since his arrival. "I was lucky in havi pg as my pilot Dr. G. K. Cunningham fmycologist at the Palmerston North plant Beseareh Station), who is recog' oised as one of the world's authorities. < jf course, wherever I went the weather 'was exceptional for the time of yea: r, but I have found that to be common , throughout the world. In spite of it, I have thoroughly enjoyed my visit » iid am looking forward to a return." !