FROST, THE DESTROYER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14508, 24 October 1910, Page 9

FROST, THE DESTROYER.

A BAD NIGHT'S WORK.

HAVOC IN HASTINGS ORCHARDS.

Somk idea, of the devastation caused by frost in the orchards in the Hastings district was conveyed to a Hkiiali) reporter on Saturday by Mr. C. Lowe, manager of tho the Motucka Fruitgrowers Cooperative Association, who has been attending the Fruitgrowers* Conference at Hastings. As the thermometer fell he orchardists made preparations for smudging—placing heaps of straw and hay here and there among the trees, firing the bundies, and wetting them, so as to produce ,1 thick, heavy smoke, which enwraps the trees and acts like a blanket or protection against the frost. But ?is a general rule smudging fails to lesist more than four degrees of frost, and by 12 o'clock on this disastrous night ho thermometer already showed four degrees below freezing point. Later it fell to 11 degrees, and at four a.m. it showed nine degrees of frost.

American orchard heating systems, with crude petroleum as fuel, have succeeded in resisting 20 degrees of frost-, but the task was too crcat for the smudging methods at. Hastings A wind was blowing, carrying lhe smoke and heat away, but oven where they were carried by the draught right on to the tree, the destroying frost, nevertheless, penetrated, the result being that there is no sound fruit on thousands of * The poaches still hang there, Li > ■ •• • wens them they are found to I ... i.t.v* ■!■• ><'■:. A few hours' frost, has . <..,i • .;>• : • .-is! ings fruitgrowers £20.000.

Off the w;-.e Ivv - orchard probably not 10 cases ot sound peaches will bo gathered. This orchard, Mr. Lowe explains, is worked by a manager, co-opera-tively or by contract, or. behalf of various owners, whose sections are not delimited by boundary fences. Visiting delegates to the conference ere alarmed lest, their orchards had been similarly visited, and Mr. Lowe was relieved to discover next day that his 60 acre peach orchard, at Motueka, had escaped. The damage seems to be confined to the Hastings district, and other orchardists have offered to como to the, rescue by reserving a sufficient supply of peaches to keep the brimley Canning Works going to supply orders. The American heating system referred to consists of placing earthenware pots in tho orchard, perhaps one pot for every two trees. Crude petroleum is* placed, in the pot, and a floating wick is put ir. with the end hanging over the side of tho pot, or sometimes a wooden float with a hole in it is placed in the petroleum, the wick passing through the hole.

Tho conference has succeeded in establishing a- federation of all the fruitgrowers' associations in the Dominion, and its future depends on the amount of local and individual enthusiasm. A leading purpose is to purchase under one> head, and, therefore, to bettor advantage, the articles required by fruitgrowers in the various districts, for carrying on their calling. Ultimately, it is hoped, the sale of iho product will also he controlled. How much can bo saved by this form of collective purchase is indicated by what the Motueka Fruitgrowers' Association, on its own account., has succeeded in doing. When tenders were called for copper sulphate, the price was 32s 6d, but the association was able to buy at 25s 6d. Then the stores came down to 25s 6d. If the New Zealand Fruitgrowers' Federation took the matter in bind it could probably buy copper sulphate at 22s 6d. Similarly. in Motueka, they now paid 18s 6d for fruit case nails that used to cost 28s. Mr. Lowe states that there is no intention to do entirely without the middleman, but it is intended to take full advantage of the saving that can legitimately be made by combining to purchase on a bigger scale. Fruitgrowers' bodies will bo represented on the federation executive in proportion to their membership. Tho executive of the Hawke's Bay Fruitgrowers' Association will bo tho federation's executive this year. The next annual conference will bo held at Motueka.