ORCHARD PROSPECTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 142, 13 December 1939, Page 14

ORCHARD PROSPECTS

OFFICIAL REVIEW

The Director of the Horticulture Division has received the following local reports from his officers regarding the fruit crop prospects at the end of November. 1939:—

Hawke's Bay.—Apples: Heavy crop most varieties. Pears: Slightly below average; Winter Cole and Josephine light. Quinces, peaches, cherries, poorman orange, gooseberries, and tomatoes: Average. Nectarines: Above average. Plums: Below average. Plums 'Japanese): Average. Lemons: Heavy blossoming. Strawberries: Below average.

Palmerston North.—Apples: Cox's Orange and Jonathan, very light; Delicious, light to average; other varieties, average. Pears and quinces: Very light. Peaches, cherries, and gooseberries: Average. Nectarines, raspberries, and strawberries: Above average. Plums: Below average. Plums (Japanese): Average. Tomatoes: Light to average.

Wairarapa.—Apples: Cox's Orange, Jonathan, and Dunn's, below average; other varieties, average. Pears and strawberries: Light. Gooseberries: Very light. Nelson.—Apples: Good setting of fruit on most varieties. Cox's, Jonathan, and Dunn's average; Delicious, patchy in places but average crop anticipated; Stunners and other varieties, moderate crops. Pears: Crops variable. Winter Coles, B. Bosc, and W.8.C.. rather light in places; others, average. Peaches and nectarines: Moderate to heavy crops. Apricots: Average to heavy crop in sight. Plums: Inconsistent, but expect average yield for district. Plums (Japanese): Average crops. Cherries: Fair crop. Raspberries: Prospect of average crop. Strawberries and gooseberries: Moderate crops being harvested. Tomatoes: Good crops showing, plantings outdoor heavy. Maryborough.—Apples: Full crop showing most varieties exception of Dunn's. Frost injury in some orchards may reduce marketable quantity slightly. Pears: Full crop showing all varieties, but some slight frost injury. Peaches and nectarines: Moderate crops. Apricots: Light. Plums: Fair crop. Cherries: Average crop. Tomatoes: Crops looking well. Auckland and Tauranga report light to average lemon cropsj^Wanganui lemons below average. Canterbury tomato crop (outdoor) backward. Otago walnuts below average.