FRUIT RESEARCH.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20100, 2 December 1930, Page 10

FRUIT RESEARCH.

WORK OF IMPERIAL BUREAU. DIRECTOR VISITS CHRISTCHURCH. In his brief but comprehensive tour of the Dominion, which concludes with his departure for Australia on Friday, Mr B. G. Ilatton, Director of the Imperial Bureau of Fruit Production and the East Maling Research Station, has been able to make arrangements for a oneday visit to Christchurch and vicinity. He arrived from Nelson last evening, and will be conducted over a number of North Canterbury orchards to-day by Mr B. G. Goodwin, Orchard Instructor, Agriculture Department. It will not be possible for him to address the fruitgrowers, but, he told a representative of The Pkess last evening, he hopes that his meeting with the orchardists to-day will be to their mutual benefit. The Imperial Bureau had its genesis in the Imperial Agricultural Research Conference in England in 1927, he said, when the representatives of the Dominions and Crown Colonies met to investigate the possibilities of extending the application of scientific knowledge within the Empire. The outcome was an agreement that they could usefully exchange ideas with one another. While it'was recognised that the problems to be solved were not always identical, they could often be tackled along parallel lines. East Maling was chosen as the place for the establishment of the Bureau of Information, which was being supported financially by every part of the Empire. It had its official correspondents in all these countries, and it was highly advantageous for him to be able to meet them personally, for by so doing he could visualise fruitgrowing in the various parts of the Empire and acquire the knowledge which would assist him in sending out information.

East Maling Research Station. The station was in Kent and was the centre of about 25,000 acres of fruit trees, which was about equal to the total area grown in New Zealand. Its scope was extremely wide, the problems facing fruitgrowers being very_ numerous. ' While it was not primarily concerned with marketing, it was prepared, when questions relating to that aspect were received, to answer them. "When any scheme for extending the orchards was thought of, it was the markets which had to be considered primarily. "Although some of your apples usually realise a very good price in England," said Mr Hatton, " and I know they are very much sought after, one gathers that your growers must aim at an extension of their markets. "Europe generally is eating more fruit, and the New Zealand Fruit Control Board has done such excellent work already that it is quite capable of undertaking this task. Before the war England exported apples to Trance and Germany, and to-day the Fatherland is far from self-supplying, but takes all fhat Holland can send there, and a good deal more." Orchards which he had seen in. the Dominion appeared to be pretty healthy, and fruitgrowers were evidently adopting a very complete schedule of spraying. "On unsuitable pieces of land," said Mr Hatton, "one will always see unhealthy trees, and if fruitgrowing is extended in New Zealand the types of land available will h;»ve to be carefully investigated." Exchange of Workers. One of the main objects of the Bureau was to exchange workers with other countries, and while nothing along these lines had yet been _ done with New Zealand, the possibilities of such an innovation would be considered when an opportunity arose. The fruit trees in the Nelson district looked very well, and had suffered no frost damage, but it was not too late yet. He could sympathise with growers who incurred losses in this way, for they had the same trouble in England, where the trouble usually came in blossom time. As a rule the price of apples at Home did not warrant the use of orchard heaters, which were more suited to citrus fruits realising a high price. When such plant was installed the oapital expended usually lay idle before a Bet of conditions arose to justify the outlay. Mr Hatton leaves for Wellington tonight. He has already traversed Canada and passed through the principal fruitgrowing districts of the United States, and he will return to England through Australia, Java, and Ceylon. There is an excellent research station in Java, and the Government there has sent officers to England to acquire knowledge, so that by his visit there he will be returning the compliment. Mr Hatton told the reporter that to_ such crops as rubber, coffee, and cocoa* beans the general principles of budding, grafting, and pruning, in practice with fruit trees, applied to a large extent, and he intended seeing something of these tropical erops on his way Home.