THE FRUIT SUPPLY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13647, 15 January 1908, Page 4

THE FRUIT SUPPLY.

I WHY PRICES ARE EXCESSIVE. ESTABLISHING COMMERCIAL • ORCHARDS. A PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT. Thk question is frequently asked by visitors, "Why is fruit so dear in Auckland when you have a sub-tropical climate?" And probably someone will remark, " Oh, the country won't grow fruit." The latter statement is_ undoubtedly wrong, for Auckland district is pre-eminently adapted to fruitgrowing, but the fact remains thatretail prices for fruit are excessive for a city like Auckland. Yesterday peaches were marked Is to Is 6d per dozen ; apples, 4d to 6d per lb ; plums, 3d and 4d per lb ; grapes, 2s to 2s 6d per lb and very ordinary pears at 4d per/lb. On the face of it these prices are excessive, and consequently fruit is anything but the common article of diet it should be in Auckland homes. The trouble lies chiefly in the question of supply from orchards and in the cost of distribution.

In connection vvitn peach-growing, it is only within recent years that the growers in Auckland province have been able to make head _ against the pests that devastated the whole country years ago. Early settlers speak of the times when they- used to feed pigs and poultry on the finest of peaches, and when the fruit was so plentiful that it used to rot on.the ground. The present generation is rather apt to regard this as one. of the "early day" romances, but it is perfectly true. * Twenty or 30 years ago peaches grew herein abundance, but there came along a fungoid disease which ruined, the trees from end to end of New Zealand. And it is only within the past few years that growers have been able to beat the disease, and produce good peaches, and this they have accomplished by raising new stocks," by careful anil systematic spraying, cultivation and pruning. They are learning to accommodate their methods to the conditions of the country, and are able to produce fairly sure crops of. good peaches. But, as yet, orchardists are not raising this fruit in anything like. sufficiently, large quantities to place it on the market at a reasonable price. In the opinion of experts, however, the Auckland growers have now mastered the difficulties,; and the trade can look forward to a very" 1 rapid expansion. Then, again, there is the vast difference between the price received by the grower and the cost to the consumer. One orehardist managed- to get Is 3d a. dozen for some specially fine peaches, and subsequently saw them sold in town at five for a shilling. The industry of fruitgrowing, again, has to face difficulties of transport, and the distribution is very costly. Only a few "of the fruit farmers have learned the art of properly packing fruit, and owing.to this, fact and to the severe handling of the fruit in transit, much of the produce reaches Auckland City in an, unmarketable condition. " More _ attention, however, is being paid to grading. The transit difficulties are . often heartbreaking to growers any distance from the city. Where brought in by trains the 'fruit is carried as ordinary cargo, and amongst all sorts of goods, in any sort of atmosphere, and subject to a scale of different temperatures. ' On board steamers, again, the"fruit may be stowed on deck or in the hold, and either, on board trains or. steamers, or on the wharves, the cases are dumped about much as though they contained pig-iron. At present the fruitgrowing industry' is passing through an important phase; there is a general work. of reconstruction of orchards going on throughout- Auckland. Orchardists are finding out the stocks to use, and are becoming conversant with methods of pruning to suit local conditions and with methods of combating orchard pests. The Agricultural Department, too, is now able to give better advice and better help, and it lias done some very important, work at Waerenga and Kuakura experimental, stations, and rat the Tauranga fruit farm. During the.year,a large number of growers have availed themselves of the opportunity ..to gain object.ilessons by visits to these, stations., - Now that orchardists are getting over . their difficulties—and it has been a long, uphill —they are beginning to extend the areas under trees., . What applies to peaches also applies to plums. There is not 10 per cent.-of the plums which could be used in" this "market grown in Auckland. " This province at one time promised to become a 'great ■ appleexporting district. Its soils and. climatic conditions are peculiarly suited, to appler growing, and a large number, of orchards were planted, but with unsuitable varieties in most instances', and in a great many cases the planting was in unsuitable positions,- while the orchards, to a great extent, were neglected. Then the codlin moth came, spread all over the country, and ruined the orchards. Commercial ap-< pie orchards are now, in places, well established, but there is not, by any means', the area under cultivation required to supply the demand. Apples, : which of. all fruits should be at low -prices •in Auckland, are amongst the highest-priced fruits. The passing of the Orchards and Garden Pests Act has thrown out of the market large quantities of apples which originally came from small growers, who were not making a business of fruitgrowing and never bothered to care for the trees, which simply became breedinggrounds for the codlin moth; and, with the passing of this kind of grower, there is springing up a very healthy movement in the direction of the establishment of orchards on commercial and systematic lines. •In apples, and also in peaches, grapes, pears, plums, etc., there is a steady planting going on, but the business of fruitgrowing is yearly becoming more a question" for the skilled grower, who is prepared to make a business, of it.. . 'There are only one or two proper hothouses for grapes in Aucklandthat is, houses heated by artificial means, although there are many greenhouses; and consequently there is never the early grape supply that this market could consume. Outdoor grapegrowing is progressing steadily, but more in the varieties of .'wine grapes, although , some viticulturists are now planting out dessert varieties, and expect, within a short time, to market at very reasonable prices. . Nearly every class of fruit grows well in Auckland. In several parts of the district the lemon grows remarkably well, and if a system of preserving or keeping were followed so as to have the demons on the market in the hot weather the industry should prove profitable. At present the local lemons are put on the market at an unsuitable time. The apricot is confined to certain districts, chiefly in the Thames and Bay of felenty. In Auckland province there are great areas of very cheap laud, eminently suited to fruitgrowing, but- it requires men to study the business thoroughly, and go into it on commercial lines. In this industry may lie a large measure of the solution of the" gum land problem, for about Henderson, on gum land, there are some of the finest orchards in New Zealand, and in Northcote and Birkenhead districts the fruit is grown on what was once regarded as useless gumfield. ' The cost of the distribution of fruit for the Auckland" market is enormous. Firstly, there are the freight charges, then - the cartage fees, the auction room charges, and, lastly, the retailers' prices. The price received by the grower is nothing like the price the consumer pays, and it is evident that - before the fruit supply can ever be on a satisfactory footing there will not only have to be co-operation • amongst growers, but also the establishment of canning and preserving factories in every fruit district. Canning factories in operation would warrant large extension of orchards, and the grower would then have An outlet for surplus fruit in the height of the season; and it has been the experience that where fruitgrowers are in co-operation, and have canning factories to supply, the prices of fresh fruit on the nearest markets have been most reasonable, and a very large share of the middle" profits I has -been eliminated. Taken altogether, the industry ( in Auckland .gives promise of a splendid future, and it will be'worked on sound, commercial lines, giving good returns to the grower, and the best of fruit at cheap prices to the consumer. Unfortunately, in the . meantime, the Auckland public is paying the penalty for the long delay there 'has been in the establishment of the industry.