ORANGES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1906, 21 August 1890, Page 5

ORANGES.

The orange seems aB if it might be cultivated with great BUcoeaß all over tbe North lalana, and even down as far as NelßDn. A go6d deal of exported money might be saved by growipg our own oranges, but there are two oisouriiatanoea that go much against it j I might, in deed say tbree. The first is that it reqmrtfl such a long time before the trees oome in to bear large quantities of fr^it, and fruit of ; godd quality, that brchardiats are very often averje to planting trees that will remain (compared to other kinds of fruit) bo long unremunerative ; the second ia a miflaprehenßion tbat the colonjy will not grow really good orangeß, and tlje third tbat oranges are Bold for such Bmallprioes and in suoh large quantities in tbe Pacific .lalanda, and of such good . quality, that^ they put our oraDges out of the market. The fact Ib that young treeß vory soon come in to bear good oropß, I have Been aa many aB 500 firie fruit on an eight yearß' planted tree at Whangarei, but the akin is very thick, and tbe fruit has not the rich aweet juioy qualities of. ripegathered Island fruit;, but 1 havealao t seen treea on the old mission stations, 30 years and over old, whose fruit was very abundant, wit(h tbin skins and the bust and sweeteßt pulp. An orange tree will not bear really good fruit under 20 yeara old, and it generally required 80 to bring it to perfection. Thea, a^ain, there is a briak trade between Auckland and the " Islands," and very little or no return cargo of much value, and the small craft plyingibetweenthe two places are in tho habit of loading up with oraug6B and bananas, which thety purchase there for very little money, and ca^i afford to' sell in Auckland for a trifle above freight values. This interferes greatly with the orange trade of Whangarei and tboNortb, aud it comes to this : as far as. the southern provinces go, whether Wharjgarei can afford to compote, not with the Islands, bufc with Aucl? j land supplied from the Islands, and whether | Whangarei can pay freight thence to Auckland, and from Auckland to a Houthem port. The growers further north (in the Bay of Islands County), although generally they have more inland oartage, hayo one great advantage in having steam communication direot with tbe southern ports, and also with other countries and colonieß, whereas the Wnangaroi people, up to the present time, have to reßhip their fruit at Auoklaad to itßultimato destination. Orohardist.

The Wellington fruiterers have decided to form an association to cope with the Chinese, and support a farmers' and fruitgrowers' assccift. tiou which is to be formed. When you lee a bad bold boy who will perilst in trundling bis hoop along a busy thoroughfare, look out presently for an old gentleman struggling in a lu'ap on the ground, ivith a small boj and a large h iop mixed up under him. The old fellow forget* that he was a boy once, and that age has oome with lihc eyhaira; but grey hairs oan be made to assume all he plotting freshness of boyhood by the use of 'Irs S. A. Allen's World's Hair Restorer, which rim iahai the roots, and so restore* tbe attractive colour of youth. Bold everywhere.