FRUIT INDUSTRY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume L, Issue 175, 25 October 1917, Page 7

FRUIT INDUSTRY

FROST'PREVENTION IN orchards: During the past two seasons, states the Press, late frosts in October and November, have done considerable damage round about the Christchurch district, not only to the wheat crops, hut to orchards,'and it appears that the matter of. frost prevention in orchards if?''one that has received' little.-'attention. In 1910/ and 191.Psevere frosts - 'in the i .North 'island were estimated to have done at least £40,000 worth, of damage 'to orchards in and around Hastings, in j >?pite of measures which were taken to '-combat them. It is obviously not posI sible to do anything to safeguard the wheat crops from the results of late frosts. But" the protection of orchards seems to be a different matter. In California and in' the fruit-growing districts on the Pacific Coast good work is done with the aid of special stoves de"signed to burn crude oils, and by this means much fruit is saved ■ from the frost. The approach of" a. frost is heralded by an ingenious . system of alarms, the fall of the temperature below a certain degree, ringing "a bell in the orchar'dist'a house, whereupon all hands turn out to light the;: stows.. A'iV effort was made in the Hawke s Bay 1 orchards during the froste" referred;,, to above to carry out a "similar, scheme, but apparently the result was not all that could be desired, though according to some reports, a good effect was i observed. At any rate the system seems !to have been given up, and now the North Island orchardists do as the ! Christchurch ones, and trust to good i fortune to save their crops. I'' On Saturday last, a Christchurch or- ! chardist of wide experience made some ' interesting observations on the question to a reporter of The Press, speaki'in"'■from a strictly practical point of '!vicw. ■ He said his opinion, gained from ia life-lono- experience of the fruit-grow-i.'ing business, was that not very much } could b'e done by the man who had a i commercial orchard, that is to Gay, an i orchard of four or five acres and up- ! ward, though no doubt on. small' places, I timely intervention might save some ; particular trees. "It is hardly possible" he remarked, "to compare the ! methods pursued on the Pacific Coast with the Christchurch district, for the conditions. I believe, are very different >To begin with, the cost of plant and material is a factor that must be reckoned with. The special stoves, used for burning the fuel are rather expensive things to ship, and the cost of the crude oil or special briquettes used, when landed in New Zealand, is another heavy item to consider. .Crude oil. costing" a few pence a gallon in California, becomes an expensive luxury over here. The country also is different over there, and the largest proportion of the.orchard country is m a dry belt, and is undulating, and in- many cases positively hilly. These two feaI tures give the* Californian fruit-growers a big pull so far as frost prevention is concerned. . "The use of oil stoves or big smudge fires, on a hillside is an easier proposition than their' use on a flat. As is well-known, heated air rises, and also as is well-known, frosts round about ■Christchurch-.only occur on quite still ■nights. If there is a wind.you won't have' ; a frost. Well, the lighting of fires in an orchard on the flat on a. still night

"merely means that columns of heated air rise straight up, and the result is that very little good is done by each fire except in its immediate vicinity. -)n \ a "hill side the effect would be different. ■ and the heated air from the fires would ■ tend to roll un the hill-side, thus get- ' ting well among the trees, even should , they be a considerable distance from the' fire. There are other factors to consider here also, one of which, the labour question, is a big problem. . We cannot get plenty of .Tapane.se labour, !'such as is available in most of the fruit belts on the Pacific Coast, and even if we had all the appliances available, it would be a big job, obviously, to auickly light the 2000 odd stoves required for an orchard even of the mod- ' erate size of 20 acres. ' "Electricity has been suggested a* a way out "of the whole difficulty. but even Mr Evan Parry, the Chief Electrical Engineer in the Dominion, seemed to be "dubious "as to its efficacy, that is at a cost to make it a commercial proposition.' His" idea" was to' hang many lamps to act as radiators right through''"" the orchards, which could bo automatically lighted directly 'the mercury in the thermometer"'fell, below a certain' leveh This does away with the labour difficulty of course,'but Mr Par- . r'y' admitted that the cost would be fair--1 Iv heavy to install the ' apparatus, and that the heat generated would probably be only sufficient to cope with "a temperature "of two or three degrees of frost. Now;-' as a matter of fact, two or three degrees of frost are beneficial rather than hurtful, as it just does a _ little thinning on? which is good. It is the 10 'and 12 di-irees of frost which does the damage, and if the suggested application 1 o'f ■ electricity ' cannot cope with -these heavy frosts, it is no good. The : thing is in its infancy vet. _ however, and there are great possibilities. I believe that the lighting of smudge fires, oil stoves. and the use of electrical heating would be quite all right on a small section, wnere expense is not regarded in the same way as in a big commercial orchard, and certainly it might be possible to save the trees in (his manner.

"As matters stand, I think an orchardist must nut his trust in the situation of his place, and, secondly. on the planting of adequate shelter. There are localities where late frosts are mild. Obviously the«e are better place 3 for an orchard—other things being equal—to a place where late frosts are known to be frequent find severe. I; have found that a decent shelter belt of trees will give protection for 'a couple of chains from it from, a really severe frost, and by judiciously selecting his locality and adequately protecting his oichard, a man should be fairly safe." .