THE FRUIT-GROWING INDUSTRY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20965, 3 March 1930, Page 8

THE FRUIT-GROWING INDUSTRY.

A PROMISING OUTLOOK. MR G. A. GREEN’S IMPRESSIONS. Mr George A. Green has just returned from the Roxburgh district, where he has been on his annual bud selection trip, procuring propagating material for the fruit tree nurseries connected with the Horticultural Trades’ Association. In an interview with a representative of the Otago Daily Times, Mr- Green stated that although the fruit crops in Central Otago had in some instances been lighter than usual, in others they had been up to the average. The prices for all classes of stone fruit had been well above those usually obtained, with the result that, where suitable land was available, there were indications of a renewed intereta in planting operations. Mr Green said that for the growing of apricots for the New Zealand market no district that he knew of could equal Roxburgh and other portions of Central Otago. The soil, climate, and general conditions enabled fruit of excellent quality to be produced. Cool trucks, he said, were now a necessity on all long fruit transport lines, and when these- were made available it would change the prospects of the stone fruit industry entirely. Although the provision of these might entail some increased expenditure, there would be little objection to this on the part of growers when the benefits of the new system were experienced. Orchardists, Mr Green considered, had now fully realised, the value of better cultivation, more liberal applications of manure, and the adoption generally of scientific methods' of fruit farming. Nurserymen were also alive to the benefits accruing from the introduction of the most up-to-date practices, and with them soil sterilisation was becoming general. This was found not only to eliminate all weeds, but also to improve, the stand of plants and keep them free irom fungoid growths. In this connection the estaunshment ot properly equipped research stations, where records could be kept, experiments made and varieties and root stocks tested and certified, and the results made available for the nureseries, was in his opinion long overdue. Now that anti-duhiping duties were established it was felt, he said, that the time had come for considering the erection in the Central Otago district of dehydration and jam factories in order that the New Zealand markets might.be supplied, in part at least, with New Zealand grown fruits, treated in the best and most up-to-date fashion. It was stated that the annual value of apricots and apricot products imported into the country amounted to about £50,000. Mr Green said that Canterbury bad suffered severely from late frosts which had greatly reduced the supply of locallygrown fruit. It was satisfactory to know that such losses were experienced only occasionally. Nelson and Marlborough would have an average crop of most fruits, and it was confidently expected that the export of apples, would be greater than that of any previous year. On the whole, the North Island crops of pip fruits were good, Auckland, Gisborne, and Hawke’s Bay being expected to increase their exports of both pears and apples to a considerable extent. With regard to stone fruits, although the northern crops have been good, there had been more than the ordinary amount of brown rot, which had caused much loss. Tomato growers had suffered in some districts from blight, caused by the wet summer. Where the crops had been saved the returns had been good, as prices had been above the average. The nurserymen, seedmen, florists, and landscape gardeners had had an erratic reason, but • taken on the whole the conditions had been fair, the demand for most horticultural lines having been steady There had been more than ever before a demand for the best grade seeds, ns it was now realised that no reduction in prices could make up for an absence of quality. The same applied to trees and plants. A grower said recently: “I supply nothing but the best of everything, hence my prices are higher than those of most others,- but no one complains, as we ‘ produce the goods.’ ” This was typical of the fooling in the trade generally. Looking into the future, stated Mr Green, one could discern numerous problems which would have to be faced, but to the orchardist ■ or nurseryman well equipped by training and’ experience to meet the difficulties as they arose and possessing that resolution which was necesary in all walks of life success might be said to be more or less assured.