FORTUNES OUT OF FRUITGROWING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 8268, 29 May 1890, Page 6

FORTUNES OUT OF FRUITGROWING.

It is the opinion of nob a few people that lecturers and writers on fruit-growing are apt to exaggerate a little on the advantages of the industry, and to over-estimate the profits to be derived from orchards. Mr. Gladstone has more than once dilated on this topic to the farmers of England, but hitherto without much general effect. But while not a few advisers of farmers and settlers generally have painted in roseate colours the immense benefits of the fruit industry, it hits been reserved for the " Vegetarian" to demonstrate by actual calculation how thousands of pounds can be realised off a few acres, especially by grape culture, adding, however, that what is true of grapes is equally true of other fruits. After referring to the depressed condition of agriculture in general, and condemning the advice of what are termed " impractical philosophers," this is what the Vegetarian says, or sings perhaps 1 ought write : — " The good times are coming through the garden, up along the orchard, they are stealing past the bee-hives, they are perfumed with the flowers, they are diamonded with dew, they are sparkling with the sunshine, their cheeks are beautiful with peachon bloom, their eyes are lustrous with the purple of the grapes, their teeth are milky as an autumn nut, their breath is sweet as fresh ripe fruit—but thoy are yet a long way off. ... Is it possible that it can be all true V Is it possible that the stockbreeder's best investment is not shorthorns, but glass—not fat beasts, but fruit frames '! Is it possible that as many tons of hothouse grapes can be raised on an acre of ground as are now produced in potatoes The imagination is staggered at a 'potentiality of riches beyond the dreams of avarice.' Talk of gold mines in the far Transvaal, talk of diamond fields in the barren vandt of the Boers —they are a delusion and a fraud when compared with the.golden usury of grapes or the diamond panes of glass. There are just 2240 pounds in a ton. Twenty tons of grapes can be grown upon every acie of ground. Hothouse grapes are now selling from 2s 6d to 3s fid per lb. Take the lower figure, and an acre of glass land will give back the stupendous total of £5600. The ordinary agriculturist is well content if he can make £10 total produce for every acre of wheat— e.g., five quarters of wheat at 30s, and .IDs for the straw. What a poor little miserable penury is this when placed side by side with the profit of grapes ! There is plenty of room here for the reduction of price which the development of grape-growing will bring. Divide the gross total by 10, so that every child in the East End slums may revel upon hothouse grapes at Id per lb, and there will still remain over £700 as the product per acre of land. Let us reason this matter out a little more closely in ligures. Take a farm of ten acres devoted solely to grapes grown under glass ; .assume the cost of erecting these vineries to be 2s per square foot of land thus covered. This is a full estimate, and would include glazing, painting, hotwater piping, making of vine beds, purchase of vines, &c. The total cost for ten acres would be £43,500. Assume 5 per cent, for interest on capital invested and depreciation ; this would give an annual charge of £2178. The other expenses might be estimated as follows : —Twenty gardeners at 30s a week, £15(50; coal, say, 20 tons per diem for 100 days in the year, at 12s per ton, £1200. This gives a gross annual expenditure of £4938, say, £5000. The receipts may be estimated as follows : —2OO tons of grapes at 3d per lb, £5600 ; but in addition bo this may be reckoned the profits from early vegetables grown under the same roof — >>.(/., potatoes, carrots, peas, &c. ; such fruits as figs, tomatoes, &c. ; flowers for forcing — e.;/., roses, lilies, bulbs of all kinds ; and the general profits from this branch of the business ought not to be less than £100 per acre. This gives a grand profit of £1600 for a year's work on a tenacre farm. But suppose the grapes to be sold at 6d per lb—and who would not rejoice at the near prospect of such an eventuality ! —the fruit farmer's profit would mount by leaps and bounds from £1600 to £7200 per annum. And what is true of grapes is equally true of all the finest classes of fruit. Peaches, apricots, nectarines, figs, apples, pears, can all bo grown with advantage under glass, and will well repay their shelter. Farmers, awake !" Farmers may indeed awake, and ruminate on their possibilities.