OLD ORCHARD RAZED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19142, 7 October 1925, Page 13

OLD ORCHARD RAZED.

A CROWDED INDUSTRY. MARLBOROUGH SHOW PLACE. BETTER USE FOR THE LAND. [By TELEGRAPH.— OWN CORRESPONDENT. ] BLENHEIM, Tuesday. Until a few days ago the splendid wellkept orchard of Mr. William Blick, on the old Renwick Road, close to Blenheim, was one of the show places of Marlborough, and the ranks of well-matured apple trees stretching in an apparently endless vista, were often used by orchard instructors and others interested in the development of the New Zealand fruit industry as an object lesson and an ex- j ample to those who had thoughts cf fruit j farming. To-day the once trim orchard is a shambles. Not a tree is standing, j All have fallen to the axe, and lie along the ground in their spring-time promise of harvest as if some giant scythe man had been that way. Sixteen and a-half acres of splendid well- | njatured trees, many of which had been tended for 16 years, have been felled, in all nearly 2000 trees. The reason for the sacrifice was explained in a few words by Mr. Blick. Standing in the midst of the fallen trees be said: "Apples don't pay sufficiently well to warrant the work entailed by the upkeep of an orchard, and I decided to get, rid of it. I have come to the conclusion tliat there are too many orchards and that someone has to get out. As my land will grow anything I decided to take the step, leaving the orchard business to those who are unable to do anything else with their land." Mr. Blick confessed that it had been a severe wrench to part with the trees, which he has tended for 16 years, and said the worst part about it was that he bad been instrumental in deciding many people to go in for the fruitgrowing industry. That, however, was when the industry was on a good footing, he said, and he could get up to 6s a case for the fruit Now it seemed to him that the dealers were all the time wanting the best class of fruit, at lower and lower prices, and the price has dropped until the orchardist had to be content with 3s a case and even less, and apples at that price hardly paid for the labour involved in caring for the trees and in picking, grading and packing. Another factor against which the Marlborough fruitgrower had to struggle was the scarcity of skilled labour for grading and packing, though this did not effect him, particularly as his family had become expert at the work. Mr. Blick has ruthlessly wiped out the whole of his orchard, except a f;w mixed trees, including plums and other stone fruits located in one corner which he intends to nse for the supply of his own household. Included among the trees spared, however, is that on which was grown in 1921 the largest apple in the world, a Prince Alfred, that turned the scale at 33: ounces. This record for a single apple has since been beaten by half an ounce in the King's garden, but the King's record apple was grown under glass. Wherever he has exhibited Mr. Blick has never been beaten in the classes for the heaviest apple, and he recalls on one occasion packing 24 applies whieb_ filled a 401b. fruit case, the apples having to be turned sideways to get them in. His decision, to sacrifice his orchard was arrived at only after mature consideration and offers a striking commentary on the state into which a promising industry threatens to fall.