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Star (Christchurch), Issue 18643, 24 December 1928, Page 9

Natives of the Waiapu district have been provided with a new topic by a sudden change of habit on the part of a great pear tree located in the pa at Tikitiki (says the “ Poverty Bay Herald”). The tree has not borne fruit for a great number of years until the present season, and its sterility had been taken for granted for a long time, but one inquiring Native took the trouble to ask the Government Orchard Instructor, during one of the latter’s periodical visits to the Coast, why the tree did not bear as others did. The instructor noted that there were no other pear trees in the neighbourhood, and advised the inquirer to procure some blossom from another variety of pear, place the twigs in water-filled jars, and hang them in the branches of the non-bearing tree. Mystified until the instructor had explained to him on broad lines the basic principle of crosspollination, the Maori finally adopted the experiment, and this year the tree bears a fairly healthy crop of fruit. At a recent gathering at the pa, Natives from other areas expressed surprise at seeing the crop, and heard with some degree of incredulity the explanation of the tree’s rejuvenation.