THE FRUIT INDUSTRY.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11502, 7 February 1903, Page 6

THE FRUIT INDUSTRY.

An unofficial report by Mr J. C. Black- [ more, the Government Pomologist for th* •* South Island, who has been inspecting the -,-*.'< orchards between ChriStohurcE and Inver- :>; oargiil, shows that the fruit crop has not- '. i£ Buffered «o much from the vagaries of (hi I "V climate this season as might have peoted.* boma fruit-grdwing district* _UWft - '&{ fared better than others, brat on the the results harro been fairly and the industry appears to be progress. The orchards in * CsntriiOtago, the principal fnat-growing district;' were, according to Mr Blftokmore, nstef,!* ■ -iIH better condition than they are at the j-f, '»■ sent time; but fruit-growers an btU-dkap- -'W ped by the absence of transport fstHtffiss. ■"'' s ql The orchard nearest the «-llw»y tflimttß* "% is forty -two miles sway, and the oast U -.- $g conveying the fruit to the station rsjhraf ' M the profits of the grow*** very conftdsf- ,\M eMy, and checks the expansion of"*j*Oy« '-.'M raising industry. In Otago and Sooih sJ| Canterbury the small fruit crop, tibwgh *| from four to *ix weeks late, has t»«i«tjr. : "1 good, while in iNorth Canterbury sV good *J| average crop at pear* and apples hasr been ' obtained, but there hoe been *> Jolliitt off__* -'| in small fruit, and plums this season an very poor. Nelson, it appears, Is MpUaf * better progress at present in than any .other district. A gres* «ion has taken place in the IOJ-dl fruit..; industry in Nelson during the peaAt*f»<^-»;, v y4 three years, sad fruitgrowers thtw, ing through the medium of • co^oftsltiftfc.'ggf

company, are building op what pronstass * J £§S_ be a large and valuable export trsds.,in r fruit pulp for jom-ma-dag. With regard *">|&| apple-growing, Mr -.-ackmore the" South Island is now p-i-duci-i" sAbm* \£j|j enough apples to supply the .wjulniasnU; of th* whole colony. The industey. fe thriving; and wivu proper eneow»je-*int .|j a wanunerative export trade in qfrm'Jßf £j| yet be developed. Meanwhile, howwVsr,' - » there is room for improvement in that fruit trade within the colony. Fruit in **".".J city Aould be cheaper Jthan it is, but th» Vfi growem ocßßflpladn thai, the industry- to not sufficiently nannnerative to warrant am- ; ; ; dutation under present cond-tions. Th* trade, it is asserted, suffers from »-pletfcor» ~> of middlemen,' and is' farther handicapped / v by the delays Whfcfo o?cur in the corriogt .J of fruit on the railway. Tbn» ax* -natter*)- ' •which the newly-formed Fruit-growers As- ? . sooiation will doubtless take in band, and '".- it is to be hoped, in their own int«eslf/_ , as well as those of the general puN-O; fits* ", they will be able to place the industry «• j "- : a better footing in this district. ,„'.-.,■"'