NURSERYMEN’S AFFAIRS

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 160813, 22 November 1920, Page 9

NURSERYMEN’S AFFAIRS

SCHOOL OF HORTICULTURE NEEDED.

(Special Correspondent)

WELLINGTON, Nov. 22

Mr George A. Green, Dominion organiser and secretary of the New Zealand Nurserymen’s Association, has just completed a tour of the country, visiting the various district councils 6f~ the Association. He informed your correspondent that the industry has had a busy season, and that it is short of skilled labour. The nursery profession, he remarked, is a highly technical one, and 'possibly Its rewards have not been large enough to make it attractive to the young New Zealander, though there has been a great improvement in this respect of late. The nurserymen intend pressing strongly for the long-promised school of horticulture, where the student will be able to receive thorough instruction in the matters of stocks, varieties, propagation, the questions of soil and climatic conditions in the Dominion, and the fighting of pests. In view of the great importance of the industry, it is necessary, he says, that the public should have some guarantee that those who are engaged in it have undergone the necessary training to make their advice reliable.

The Nurserymen’s Association approves of the Government’s forestry policy, and will assist in the progaganda work. A special committee for this purpose will be set up at the forthcoming annual conference in Wellington. The satisfactory prices received for New Zealand fruit exported last season to England, together with the prospects of better organisation among the fruit-growers for development of the export market has had its effect in an improved demand for fruit trees.