THE SEASON OF PEACHES

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14924, 23 February 1912, Page 5

THE SEASON OF PEACHES

AN INCREASING OUTPUT.

A PLEASANT AND CHEAP FRUIT.

Peaches are the fruit of to-day. They are coming into the market with a freedom that should ensure fine fruit upon even frugal tables, for they can be purchased almost for a song. "Royal George" peaches, of a quality fit to grace the table at a banquet, have been sold by auction this week at 3s 6d per case. The big supply of peaches is reminiscent of the early days, when they were retailed for next to nothing. That was a period when fruit culture was a rule-of-thumb business, and it was followed by a time when curly-lsaf and other diseases attacked the trees and changed the * peach into a luxury, That period has now passed, and such is the output of peaches that it it wore not for the jam factories there would be a glut in tho market. To some extent directly, and to a further extent indirectly, the increased output is due to tho use of Bordeaux mixture for spraying the trees. The spray abolishes ; "curly-leaf" without any difficulty; and tho increased yield of peaches is remarkable. In general it may be said that the orchardists of Auckland and its surroundings deserve much credit for the way they care for their fruit trees, pruning and spraying them in accordance with the best practice. An orchardist who was spoken to in reference to this matter said that last year his trees produced 4£ tons of peaches, whereas four years before scarcely a pound was obtained. He attributed this entirely to the use of tho Bordeaux mixture, which had an immediate result in exterminating the blight and putting peaches, in its place. The facility with which peaches can be grown under the protection of the spray has enabled tho growers to sell peaches at a low rate, knowing that their bulky crops will recoup them. They have been induced by the same circumstances to put do.vn considerable extensions of their orchards and in a year or two there promises to be a flood of peaches that may even bo troublesome to get rid of, unless the public realises the value of more poaches in the diet and has easy access to them at low prices. i

This year the season for summer fruits is a fortnight or three weeks late, and there are still a great many peaches to appear on the market. The crop of Royal George ia still coming in freely; and amon? varieties which have yet to come forward are Wheatland, Elberta, Sea Eagle, and Mahuta.