The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. MONDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1886. FRUIT-GROWING.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1425, 6 December 1886, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. MONDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1886. FRUIT-GROWING.

The very configuration of these islands, extending as they do over so many degrees of latitude, and thus possessing a wide range of temperature, together with their great variety of soils, afford opportunities for the production in perfection of fruits of all kinds, from those of the more temperate climates of Europe to those which flourish best in semi-tropical regions. It is, therefore, surprising that fruit-growing, as an industry, is not more extensively resorted to, and that we continue to rely to a very large extent for our supplies of fruit upon importation from Tasmania and elsewhere. It is true there are fruit-farms in the colony, but they are few and far between, and there is, we believe, ample room for many more, for the industry is one which, properly manaeed, is capable of yielding very handsome returns As evidence of what may be achieved in this direction, the Auckland Bell prints in a recent issue a large amount of interesting information culled from Californian papers, and we avail ourselves of the results ot our contemporary’s industry for the benefit of our readers. As to what can be done in growing plums over in that State we read that a Mr R. C. de Nise picked from one tree, of the General Hand variety, the enormous crop of 873 pounds, and from 23 trees of the same variety a gross yield of 8000 pounds and that these netted in the market from 6s to 8s per xoolbs; while another grower has succeeded in raising a plum, variety unknown, girthing inches and weighing As to walnuts, it is said that land planted with walnut trees will, when these are in full bearing, nett £bo per acre, year after year. Of raspberry culture, we read of one grower who has two acres in these berries and obtains for them as high as isdols a chest, through the average price is 8 dols, 5° cer| t s> The crop amounts to about fifty chests to the acre and the cash result per acre is thus over £BO. Of grape-culture and its results, we are' told that two-year-old Trousseau vines in the vineyard of Mr John Harting at Anaheim last yielded four tons to the acre, and an instance is given ot another vigneron getting 33'lbs weight of Sultanas from one vine, at which rate •' the crop from one acre of three-year-old vines is worth reckoning the grapes at the low figure of £1 per ton.” Of growing grapes for raisins, we learn that “ the coming raisin-pack of Riverside is estimated at 200,000 boxes, which will, it is calculated, yield a revenue of j£Bo,ooo from 1000 acres of vineyard, or an average of j£Bo per acre.” One grower is mentioned as getting five tons of raisins to the acre, and selling them at per ton. Then as to oranges, we read of 1500 boxes as the produce of five acres which “ means an income of about per acre,” again, as to figs, we are told of seventy-two bearing trees (iwelve-year-old), occupying three acres of ground, the fruit from which,' although the crop was only halfgathered, had realised £6O, and the total proceeds for one year for the three acres £ estimated at £l2O, or

per acre. These facts are a suffi ien* answer to the question—“ Will frail farming pay ? ” at least so far as California is concerned, and we believe that equally sausfactory results would reward the enterprise of systematic 'iruit-farming in New Zealand. Wo know of one man at anyrate who lasi year sold no loss than four tons o) strawberries, sending them by rail to Dunedin, and that the proceeds of that one item alone were sufficient, or nearly so, to delray all his expenses for the vear. Of course we aie unable to go in for grape or orange-growing in Canterbury, as our climate is not warm enough, but these fruits, and figs also, flourish splendidly in the Bay of Islands district, and we are pleased to know that several Canterbury men have recently taken up land there with the object of following up this industry. But in Canterbury apples, pears, plums, raspberries, currants, gosseberries etc, can be raised in perfection and profusion, and in apples alone there is ample room for profitable enterprise, while the establishment of a jam factory on an extensive scale would enable a large extension of the cultivation of the sm tiler fruits. Instead of importing fruit, ar d jams and jellies, of any kind, New Zealand should be an extensive exporter of all these articles, and as our fruit can be sent Home in cool chambers in splendid condition, reaching the English markets at a time at which they cannot be sup plied with any home-grown fruit, there will always be a ready sale at good prices for all we can produce. Indeed, we believe that the fruit export of New Zealand will ere long reach very large proportions, and it is questionable whether we can turn our soil and climate to better account than in fruit cultivation.