HOKIANGA SETTLEMENT.

Timaru Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 3582, 24 March 1886, Page 3

HOKIANGA SETTLEMENT.

(By Telegraph.) CniiiSTcntmcii, March 23. Mr Murphy, t-'ecretary of tho Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association, and also of tho Hokiang.i Fruit Growing Company, has been interviewed by the Lyttelton Times reporter on tho subject of the fruit growing settlement at Hokianga. Ho gives it as his opinion that a fiuo field exists thero for persons with some small knowledge of gardening, and with patience to wait for a time for profitable returns. There is access by water all through tho block, on which could be grown tomatoes, early cucumbers, strawberries, etc., to supply tho southern markets. Mr G. B. Federli, who is now working on 100 acres there, states that ho has planted apples, pears, plums, apricots, quinces, pomegranates, figs, almonds, oranges, Lisbon lemons, bananas, and pineapples, all of which are doing very well. The 400 vine cuttings that ho has planted have already attained a growth of four feet, and his tobacco, of tho Havanna, Virginia, and Connecticut varieties, is admired by both Europeans and natives. Tho latter, who grow " the weed " lin tho district, consider it the finest growth they have seen there. Maizo grows to perfection, and he expects n crop of 200 bushels to the acre. Water-melons and rock-melons can also be easily cultivated.