TASMANIAN FRUITGROWER IN NEW ZEALAND.

Colonist, Volume LVIII, Issue 14483, 15 August 1917, Page 4 (Supplement)

TASMANIAN FRUITGROWER IN NEW ZEALAND.

MR SHOOBRIDGE'S IMPRESSIONS.

WARNING TO TASMANIAN

-_ _ • ' ■ July 25. Mr L. M. Shoohfidge, of-Newtown Tasmania, who acted aft a judge at th< recent National Apple Show at Dun edm, and visited Nelson during hii stay in the Dominion, delivered an in teresting address to fruitgrowers a lu-anklm, Tasmania, on July 3rd, 01 Ins observations in New Zealand ant America, the "Hobart Mercury" ieports. What he had come to talk to then about, explained Mr' Shoobridge, wa the position which Tasmanian fruit nov occupied m the markets of tne"worl< in comparison with other and compet ing countries. He had said man1 times over that Tasmania could pro duco apples equal to those produced ii any part of the world, and when the' saw other apples preferred to Tasman lan, and commanding substantial higher prices, it would seem that therl was something wrong somewhere, am it; should be their aim to find ou wiiat was wrong. He thought that h would be able to give them evideno that would enlighten* them upon thi point. He described how he had visit ed the markets not > only in the Oli .Lountry but also in other countries how he had been through some of th iruitgrowzng centres of America an« i •, , States of the Commonwealth I and how; quite recently, hV had ha- | special opportunities of seeing the frui | industry in' New Zealand. It was th j altogether remarkable and exceeding! rapid development of fruitgrowing i fe , st"lix med country that con stituted Mr Shoobridge'a principa theme, and of his own personal in sight on the spot, he was able to pom the moral, and indeed, to press i Q? mt -I n Newr Zealand, where M Shoobridge acted as one of the judge at the last great show held at Dunedi under the auspices of the Fruitgrowers Federation—in which capacity he wa associated with Mr W. H. divert c Jorest Home—he was astonished at'th general^ excellence of the fruit, th yast extent and suitability of the lan that had been, that was being, an would- be planted out into orchards an the efforts, that were being made t Sv Gr 4fV ni UStry iv evel<y Possibl J3L™ /' h-! Dui\ edin Show there wa •splendid fruit, and the keenest imajrir able competition. There was no doub that New Zealand could grow goo to"*, alike -a regard to colour, size and. flavour, and it was because h knew how well they could grow fruit and tne methods they were adopting t market it, that he told his hearer that night that in a few years' tim f, eT Zealand was going to be one c their most formidable competitors i the open market. They must remem ber that the New Zealand fruit cam m the same season as the Tasmania^ lnere had been a tremendous ira petus given during the last few year to fruitgrowing in New Zealand. Tha country afforded a good market fo lasmania m years past, in spite of th heavy duty, but he did not think tha they would be a'blo to send much mor there. Two years ego the extent c land m New Zealand under frui amounted to 45,697 acres, but he ha no doubt that further planting ha< smc e brought it up to 50,000 acres Ibis alone showed bow far New Zea land had advanced beyond Tasmania with the latter's 35,000 acres. In th same year 62,164 cases of fruit, mos ot which were apples, were exports to South America, but he had no doub that m the next four or five years the would not only bo'sending thousands but would almost be able to sen* millions of cases away. He described i: detail now the Government and th -fruitgrowers co-operated in New Zea land, and showed how there were prun ing and spraying demonstrations apple-grading and packing classes co operative fruit-testing experiments find so forth. New Zealand was als exercising what Tasmania must do i the latter intended to keep her mar kets, and that was the restriction o export. ATI apples exported from th Dominion were classed in ihree grades and had to comply with those oondi tioris, under heavy penalty. Tasmani; had practically lost her South America! trade through the remissness of he <>wn growers. He quoted extract: ,rom the report of an agent of th New Zealand Government bearino- ou his contention. This showed thaiTTas mnman fruifc bad at ono time, boei largely bought in South America bu growers had got careless, and had'smr truit 'badly, packed, mid it had-boon dis carded in favour of New Zealand ap pies. Tasmania might have had ; good trade with South America, bn owing to faulty packing, and so on in was afrnid that she had practically ios it. _ He strongly insisted that Tas mama had the most serinup competitioi to face from New Zealand. Whereas the American fruit arrived in 'the of season, New Zealand had exactly £h< same season as Tasmania, and this State liad to compete with her in tht overseas markets. I'o was very much concerned for tfu good name of Tasmanian fruit, anc tlifit was the reason he had taken the trouble to. come down to Franklin thai night They had had a good name, and had sent quantity, but he afrak [that they had not always sent quality, | lasmania had been looked upon as the | premier exporting State in the ComI monwealth, and so she was so far a« i quantity Was concerned, but we required to learn to grow fruit. It wa? iar better to grow ton cases of reallj first-class fruit than 20 cases of second or third class, and by so doing they would not exhaust the trees so much, and would really have more profit. Moreover, they should only grow commercial Varieties', but ho was sorry tc say—and it was not altogether theii fault—that they had many orchards full of trees that were practically worthless. In New Zealand the com-mr-rcnil value of the apple received iirst attention and the growers over there had benefited by" the experience" of the Tasmanian growers. He Had noticed in New' Zealand that the' best fruit wrt,s grown on small trees, and ho behoved in the system. The New Zealand growers were going in for the close planting of small trees. The small tree was better in every way, for the .orehardis't could do mofe by standing on tho ground than on a ladder, and it was bettor for pruning and nicking. Moroove»- . Ta.smam.-nr growers had got to learn to thin the friiit oh the trees. "What was; required to be encouraged in prv.nnig was plenty- of little laterals, fl^d not the long straight poles with clusters of Ijuds.all the way up. They would never gpt good fruit by the adoption of the tatter style. . In" order to get- goad fruit every annle should stand out singly; no. .two apples should be n-i-owing tngo+.her. The result of the nr>ples not growing in ■■clusters was that i-he individual apple was betler coloured / and .consequently better flavoured. When tliev perceive?.!■' armies in bunches the fruit looked very well o" the trees. Voause" it was coloured on the outside, but when they .■•went to pick tho fruit tW wonlu Ind th?t half the api>le was not. r>"^nro/! r TI the show Vat Di-uedin to which. h« had referred, the fruit was •roloived . p.H over' - ;rud . that was very '•v;<rely Tiecr^sp it )vad been thinned. 1 heii, also, it ,was' necessary that T»<;nr«i^i.an Tdv-^rs • should^ standardise the r)"ck. Wr Shoobridge made ?.. strong plea for co-operation, and adyocatef.l increased attention leing given to the development of by-producte. ■

GROWERS