COLONIAL FRUIT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2861, 13 January 1909, Page 10

COLONIAL FRUIT.

NEW ZEALAND SUCCESSES. ! (Frou Oub Own Cohrespondxnt.) LONDON, November 27. New Zealand yesterday gained some more creditable successes at the Royal Horticultural Society's exhibition of colonialgrown fruits and bottled fruits. Kirkpatrick's bottled fruits gained a. silver medal and Messrs Clarke Brothers and the Hokian^a Company's exhibits a bronze medal in similar classes, while honey exhibited by the New Zealand Government also was awarded a bronze medal. For a chow of New Zealand apples exhibited by the Dominion Government a silver medal was awarded. These results are the more surprising, seeing what the exhibits have had to go through ; they have been her» for months. The apples, in point of fact, were picked as far back as last February, and they have before made their appearance at the Horticultural Society's room 6, where they gained higher awards, and since then they have been at the FrancoBritish Exhibition. Mr Cameron's object in entering them ajrain was to put them to the severest possible test, and to ascertain how the exhibits would be classed i after such long keeping. The result amply justified him. In opening the exhibition Lord Strathcona 6aid the society was doing a good work in organising these shows, not for the purpose of gain, but in a truly patriotio fepirit. Tlie exhibit proved that the Empire had within itfcelf, in its outlying parts, and in the United Kingdom, without going to foreign countries, everything that was required by way of either comfort or luxury. In his childhood the West Indies represented about the limit of the distance fruit could be sent, but now with colld storage they could have anything and everything they liked, iji good condition, from every part of tho Empire, and in that exhibition they had an object leeson in preserved' fruits from British Columbia, the furthest part of the Dominion, and from the West Indies, Kew Zealand, and Australia. Lord Balfour Temarked that the object of the sooiety was to stimulate the production of the best fruit, to afford information to growers as to the be«fc nleans of placing it on the market, and to inform the British consumers where they could get the best article that their fellow-subjecte all over the world could prcduce. Tho Jesuits had been encouraging. Every year caw an advance in quality and suitability for the market, and the society cheerfully incurred the nor inconsiderable expense of organising the f-how. Liut year New Zealaudcrs consumed *

? ' £40,000 worth more of locally tinned fruit J " j than in the previous year, states the Wel- _ t lington correspondent of the Lyttelton ) Timo3. The representative of a large fruit- ~ , packing concern in America who used to _ ido a profitable trade -with New Zealand | finds that of late his sales have diminished 1 s to such an extent that he has serious thoughts of confining his attention to Aus- ~ j tralia. Mr Jaques, the Government canr ' ning expert, states that orchardists in the Dominion are paying fa.r more" attention - , to the trees than in former years, and the ! result is that the crops are larger and the flavour of the fruit much improved. , An improvement in the method of canning the fruit is also noticeable, and no doubt many ' packers have followed the hints which the Government expert has given them from time to time. Mr Jaques states that New " Zealand canned fruits have quite caught ! the fancy of leading provision men in Loni con, who are anxious to obtain regular - I supplies. • The fruit-packing industry in I New Zealand is only in its infancy, but Mr • i Jaques states that it is growing at a satifl- . I factory rate, and the time is, he hopes, not ! far distant when the Dominion will be able 5 to supply all local requirements and also j send some of its choicest orchard products ' | in cans to obher countries. , I During last summer numbers of asters J were attacked by blight during the grow- • ' ing season and just as the plant* comI menced to send up their flowering stems, they suddenly wilted and died off in a . few days. This ddeease has appeared again, this season, and complaints of the 6udden. j death of aster plants are general. The ' disease, which is a fungoid (says the Christ - 1 ohurch Press) attacks the lower leaves of the plant, and will be found on the underside, and can be plainly seem with the ' naked eye. Those plants which are affected j and die off suffer also at the roots, and on , inspection it will be found that the rootlets I have quite lost theiir vitality. The first I impression that ante gets is that the plants j arc suffering from sleeping sickness; but I close observation reveals *he cause of the trouble. So far no oure has been found to counteract this latest garden disease.