ORCHARD MURDERING

Evening Star, Issue 18048, 16 August 1922, Page 2

ORCHARD MURDERING

MATURITY FORGED ON IN NEW ZEALAND. MR GOODWIN’S REMARKS. Questions that have a serious and direct bearing on tho value of New Zealand orchards were put to Mr B. G. Goodwin (Orchards Instructor) by a ‘Star’ reporter a day or two ago. Is it a fact that our -pip-fruit trees in New' Zealand are short-lived by comparison with -the trees that grow at Homo and on the Continent? If so, is there any known cause? Mr Goodwin thought for a. moment, .and then framed his reply with tho caution and the modesty that characterise the scientist. \ , . - “I do not claim'to be an authority on tho historical side of tho question, hut it is, of course, common knowledge -that very old pear trees in Northern France and in England as well have been bearing freely for scores of years, and promise to keep on thriving. 'Some rare old_ apple trees are also commented on by historians and, traveller's. And there are fine trees of great age in other parts of tho world. In Tasmania, for example, visitors are taken to admire apple trees that arc undoubtedly fifty or sixty years of age, and still doing well. To me these Tasmanian trees axe a surprise—l may say a puzzle since they have been cultivated'and pruned in a way that for all practical purposes is the way wo adopt in New Zealand, and, as you suggest, our trees do not last long. “The only explanation that occurs to my mind is that those iasmanian ancients were raised on seedling stocks, not on tho Northern Spv or Winter Majetin stocks that wo use” in New Zealand because of their being blight-resistant. The Tasmanians who planted those trees did so in defiance of the woolly aphis or in ignorance of the virtue of the allegedly blightproof stocks; but the trees, though m the season smothered with the aphis, are constitutionally healthy, and continue to thrive and produce abundantly. I put- this clown to their having a different root system. “There may be sonic very old apple trees in New Zealand, too, 1 know there arc such pear trees—some at Opotiki that wore raised sixty years ago. “ Quite apart, however, from the Mcthusakhs of the orchard, it is well worth considering the method of dealing with our fruit trees generally. The common calculation in England as to apple trees is that they reach maturity in twenty years, whereas in New Zealand —-at any rate in Central Otago—it is ouite usual to hear of apple trees going .back and showing undoubted signs of debility after ten or twelve years. Some say the cause of this early decay is the soil. I do not think that “is tho cause. Anyway, it is not the prime cause. If you ask my opinion, the trouble here arises from forcing young trees to carry and ripen too much fruit. Patience is the 'cure, not a chemical adjustment of the soil. We have got into the habit of pruning for a return in five or six years, and we obtain it, but at the cost of straining the vitality of the trees, and they begin to die in ten years. The British orcharclist, on the other hand, docs not look for full hearing till his trees are fifteen or twenty years old, and he has liis reward in their going on and on. “ I may also point out that tiro methods of cultivation are not the same. In England they let apple trees grow up high, whereas in New Zealand we keep them short, so as to make the picking easy and keep them out of the wind. In England they do not plough underneath, but allow the grass to grow and the cattle to browse right close, up. Again, the custom in the Old Country is to pluck tho fruit early. We frequently leave it too long on the trees. I have' seen apples left on till Juno that should have come off in April. By leaving tho fruit long on the trees you certainly get high color, but you also get something that is not an and that is the ripening of tho pip. Think what that means. The tree is trying to reproduce itself, and if allowed to do so when young it must suffer in tho same way as a- two or three-year-old filly suffers when bred from—suffers in the loss of vitality caused by reproducing too early. To let the pips ripen in a hanging apple means taking out of the tree that essen, tial vigor which is necessary to keep it in health. In some of these matters wo can learn from the Old Country.

“Understand, however, that I do not advocate that we in New should adopt tho English plan of not cultivating. Wo must cultivate to conserve tho moisture and keep down weeds. Wherever we have tried the non-cultivation scheme our trees have gone back, perhaps on account of tho -soil not being sufficiently deep or rich. A method that has been markedly successful in America, on country similar to that of Central Otago, is to sow the orchard with lucerne. I recommend orchardists to try a small patch in that manner—if tried on a small scale, th-ere will be no great loss if for local reasons it is not a success. But copious irrigation is necessary, and it is important that the lucerne bo not cut. A plant that sends its roots down 30fl or 40ft must make .for splendid aeration, and thus do a lot of good, oven though it does take something out of the ground.”