FRUIT CULTURE AS AN AID TO FARMING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9160, 15 September 1888, Page 6

FRUIT CULTURE AS AN AID TO FARMING.

There was quite a number of people present at a lecture given by Mr. G. E. Alderton, agent for the Government Life Insurance Department, in the Public Hall, Cambridge, last Saturday night. The Mayor (Mr. John Hallyj was in the chair, and amongst those present were the Ven. Archdeacon Willis, Messrs. Brooks (Bank of New Zealand), T. Wells, J. 3. Buckland, John McNicol, G. R. Russell, and other leading people. The subject was that of " Fruit Culture as an Aid to Farming'," a matter in which the people of \Vaikato are now taking a very intense interest. Previous to the lecture, the Town Band kindly played a couple of airs outside the hall to rally up the people. The lecturer went into the subject very exhaustively, dealing with it as an industry suitable to the district, as an industry productive of largo profits, as a means of giving land an increased value, and spoke of the absolute necessity of fruit-growers learning how to dry such fruit as could not be sold profitably in its fresh state, or in otherwise dealing with it so as to make it imperishable for winter use. The feature of the lecture, however, was an entirely new idea advanced by Mr. Alderton, namely, that, with irrigation, the level, sandy plains of the Waikato and Thames Valley, which are of comparatively little value for either farming or grazing pur poses, could be made as productive for fruit culture, excluding certain fruits from the list, such as the citrus tribe, as the celebrated, high-priced lands of California, or that which the Chaffey Brothers are about to irrigate in Victoria and South Australia. "And," added the lecturer, "if the big land syndicates that now hold so many thousands of acres of these lands were to 'catch on to this idea,' they might yet hope to get their money out of their huge, unproductive holdings." Much to the surprise of the lecturer, who saiid he had fully expected to hear the idea of irrigating Waikato lands laughed at, he was congratulated on all hands for having advanced the idea, and practical illustrations were cited by orchardists to prove that the theory was founded on sound premises. "No better proof was wanting," said the lecturer, " than the fact of such an excessive loss of fruit trees having been experienced on the level, sandy soils of the Waikato from the root fungus—a loss which had been confined almost exclusively to land of a porous and unretentive character, which contained insufficient moisture. That he found to be the case throughout the plains, and it was also the experience of their local nurseryman—a most reliable man—Mr. Sharp. It stood to reason that it must be so. The land was thin and porous, and the rainfall was light—much lighter than that of Auckland, and considerably less than that further north—while the summer heat was greater than that of Auckland. These porous lands became as dry as dust, so to speak, and the rootlets of the trees, which depend on the water in the soil to dissolve their plant food before they can absorb it, cease their work ; the vigour of the tree is checked ; it is predisposed to disease ; and it is then that the fungus attacks the roots} Irrigate the land, dissolve the plant food in the soil, and the tree, instead of being checked, will, with the increased heat of summer, increase in vigour and productiveness, and do as well here as in California. Much of the fruit land of California was similar to that of the Waikato plains—thin and porous—and would not produce more than 12 to 15 bushels of wheat, and, valued as wheat land, it would not fetch more than five dollars an acre; but the same land, put down to fruit, and irrigated, would grow its live tons of fruit to the acre. \ alue your fruit all round at a penny a pound, and you have a gross return, roughly, of £45. Put this against the 15 bushels of wheat, and one can readily understand what a Californian paper means when it says, " Why, the price of an Eastern corn farm won't "patch a hole in a corner lot in Los Angeles County." I will now give the answers I obtained from Mr. Alderton at an interview after the lecture :— " Which of the Waikato districts do I believe best adapted to fruit culture ? All of them, more or less, but I like the look of the Thames Valley the most. I believe it is warmer than the Waikato Valley, more sheltered from westerly weather, and there is such a great extent of level land capable of being irrigated. Matamata particularly is a suitable block for a fruit colony." " But has not Matamata rather a bad name for its poor soil ?" "lam aware of that; but it is no worse than much of the Californian fruit lands. You must remember that the roots of fruit trees will penetrate in such light, porous soils to great debths—lo to 14 feet, say— and find abundance of plant food, which the smaller roots of cereals can never reach. All that is wanted is sufficient water in the soil to dissolve the organic and inorganic elements so that the roots can absorb them."

" Then, are you of opinion that fruit trees would do well on such lands without manure?"

" No, I do nob say so. You cannot expect land which, with manure, will not produce more than half a ton oi wheat to the acre, to produce five tons of fruit without any manures. But the proportion required by the fruit trees would be considerably less than that required by the wheat, for the reason that their roots can reach further for their plant food, and also because the foliage of trees absorb from the atmosphere the bulk of their organic growth." " Then, fruit lands would require to be manured ?"

" Well, the best plan is to crop between the trees, so that you have the use of the land till the trees come into bearing ; and by this system you improve the land, so long, of course, as you compensate it for what is taken out by the crop." " What crops should be planted between the trees ?"

" Potatoes, onions, tomatoes, melons, and such other crops as can be worked and harvested without injury to the trees." " And how would you propose to irrigate these lands ?"

" A small windmill can irrigate ten acres of land. £20 would erect a mill and tank. Land situated alongside the river could be easily irrigated, and perhaps the Mata niata Falls could be used ; but of that have no practical knowledge. The watel is run over the land in trenches made by the plough and in various other ways, to suit circumstances."

" And what fruits would succeed best and be the most profitable ?" "Every kind of fruit can be grown here, exceptingcitrusfruits—apples, pears, plums, cherries, peaches, apricots, all the berries— gooseberries, currants, raspberries, American blackberries—in fact, everything ; but I believe the growing of prunes would pay as well as anything, because plums grow so well in the Waikato, and prunes are easily cured, and can be held for a good market. Get a penny a pound for the fruit all round, and a man can make a rattling: good income, and can always sell out well." " And what about insect pests?" " Wash your trees twice a year, and keep your ground clean, and the pests won't bother you more in this trade than in any other. They have all the same pests in California, and they fight them." " And the codlin moth ?"

"Yes, in California as bad, or worse, than here. The specific of one American was : ' Catch it, and hit it with a hammer,' or, in other words, fight it wherever you find it."

"And what aboub markets for the fruit?"

" If a fruit colony were established here similar to the Californian ones, canneries and preserving factories would spring up in the district as soon as there was plenty of cheap fruit. These factories buy all the fruit standing ab from £d to lid a pound, and the grower never handles the fruit." " Would the factories find a ready demand for the fruit ?" " Cheap fruit finds a ready consumption. Fruit can be produced at the price of potatoes, and if sold at anything like the same price, the consumption of the one would be as large as the other. The factories, of course, would deal with the fruit in a rariety of ways: canning, evaporating, jammaking, cider and vinegar manufacturing, and the making of glaced fruit." " By-the-bye, I have heard that one of Matamata orchards was heavily manured, but the result was not altogether a success." " 1 am aware of that. No matter how i much bones you pub in the land, if there is

no water in the soil during the hot weather to dissolve and let the plant food loose, no enefit can be expected. , " Why do I give Matamata the preference ? Because everything appears to be in its favour. There is plenty of level land ; it is opened up by a broad avenue, the railway runs through it, the scenery is superb, and then there are the hot springs on the estate—its beautiful opal bath. Altogether, it is just such a place that could be with great eaee laid out as a model fruit colony, and be made far more attractive than the Mildwra colony of the Chaffey Brothers in Victoria. Settlers at Matamata would enjoy as fine a climate ns there is in the world. In Victoria, there are the hot winds to endure, and eye diseases are common." "And you think people would take the land up?" " Undoubtedly, if the matter was gone about properly, and well advertised in England. \' ou will have noticed that Chaffey Brothers have issued 100,000 books descriptive of their scheme. It is not so much the farming cla&s that take on to fruit culture os city men. In all towns there is a large class whose great ambition is to make a home in the country, to which they ceri, ■when circumstances permit, retire. Chaffey Brothers' scheme is to lay out orchards for such people, end cultivate iiiem for any number of j ears, till tho city man desires to enter into active possession." " Do you think many such men would be found in Auckland?" " I am certain of some, for I know many such men, and quite a large number would come from the South—men who are getting up in years, and want a warmer and more genial climate than that of the South Island."

In conclusion, Mr. Alderton said:— " Everybody round about here seems to be looking to the Te Aroha mountain to disgorge its wealth and revive trade, but I remember the San Francisco Bulletin saying that the wave of prosperity brought to California by the fruit-growing era was worth more to the State than the discovery of the Cornstock lode. No new millionaires were created, but there was something better in the fact that thousands of people were put upon the land, and upon the road to permanent prosperity. People will will laugh at this fruit colony idea at> first, but it will come off sooner or later."