The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, MARCH 12, 1869.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IV, Issue 59, 12 March 1869, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, MARCH 12, 1869.

We have been much interested iv reading an article in the Hobart Town Mercury -on the Tasraanian Jam Trade, a branch of industry for which our own province appears to us to offer peculiar facilities. There are very few of us who have not in the fruit season seen, what in Nelsou is but too common a sight, namely — bushels and bushels oi fruit lying rotting ou the ground of our numerous orchards aud gardens, and it will perhaps astonish many of our readers to learn to what account such a profusion of fruit would be turned in Tasmania. At one of the establishments in Hobart Town we find that duriug •the height of the season no less than 100 hands are employeJ, and that throughout the year there are never less than thirty hands, many of them being women, girls, and boys, engaged in labelling and packiug ■the juin. The total product of the past sensou "has been set down at 790 tons, giving temporary employment to 267 persons. The jam is usually packed in lib. tins, and its export value in round numbers is £60 per ton, we have therefore the handsome sum of £47,400 as the produce of this -one branch of trade. This however, we =are told, represents the trade of Hobart Town alone, but it is also estimated that "300 tons would be exported from the northern p-rt of the island, yielding another £18,000, or a grand total of £65,400. We have stated the number of liands employed during the season to have been 267, but it must be remembered that •employment is given to many others besides those directly engaged in the process of makiug the jam, for instance, there are the packiug-case makers aud •tinsmiths. The number of boxes required for export from Hobart Town for the season jus-t concluded, was 32,000, to produce which, from sixty to seventy hands were at work the whole of the year, whilst the tinsmiths were kept busily employed in turning out the million and three quarters of lib. tins that were required to contain the jam. Three lithographer are at present engaged in geltiug up the labels that are used on the tins, aud which, according to the. 'account before us., appear to be most tastefully ; execu ted. •In we have not the immeuse of fruit that must bo grown in Tasmania, but this is simply because so

little attention is paid to its culture, here we put our trees and bushes in the ground and consider that all has been done that is necessary, and certainly the wonderful way in which they bear fruit appears to justify such a course, but great as is the yield under such circumstances, it would prove far larger were a little time and labor expended on their cultivation. The principal fruits in Tasmania are currants, black and red, gooseberries, raspberries, cheries, and plums, and the prices given for them, are, gooseberries, 4s to 5s per bushel; raspberries, 2d to 3d per lb.; black currants, 9s to 10s per bushel ; red currants, 8s; cherries, 3d to 4d per lb. Excepting for cherries, these prices are much smaller than we are in the habit of paying in Nelson, but if more ground were afforded for, and more attention paid to, the growth of fruit trees, the increase in quantity would enable the growers to produce the article at such a price as would justify the commencement here of a trade, which in itself would prove most profitable, and would at the same time most materially benefit very many small industries which are no# suffered to laguislu