HOME GARDENS

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21413, 4 March 1935, Page 4

HOME GARDENS

VISIT TO TOBACCO PLANTATIONS The New Brighton Home Gardens Competition and Beautifying Association paid a visit on Saturday afternoon to the tobacco plantation opposite the Bower bridge, which is being run by unemployed, under the auspices of the Chrislchurch Returned Soldiers' Civil Rehabilitation Committee. The party were accompanied by Mr B. H. Dean (secretary) and wero shown round the eight-acre block by Mr F. J. Bromley, who with eight others is responsible for carrying out the scheme.

This is the second year of the venture. Last year the crop was totally destroyed by a frost when it was ready to be harvested. Much improvement is shown in the general layout of the block this year, as the sandhills have all been levelled. A total, of 56 chains of poplars have been planted and arc doing well, and one mile of sunflowers, many of which are 10 feet in height, have been planted to act as transverse break winds. The approach to the plantation is laid out in flower beds, surrounding a homemade sundial, which bears the device, "The desert, shall rejoice and bloom as the rose." A double-flue drying kiln has been erected, and consumes a ton of smokeless fuel for each drying, the process taking five days and nights', during which quarter-hourly inspections are necessary to secure a uniformity of temperature, which must be maintained at 90 degrees in the earlier stages and reaches 180 degrees when the leaves are in maturity. There is also a building for air curing another type of leaf, and its capacity is 200 four-feet sticks, on each of which 66 leaves are strung. The 30,000 to 40,000 plants are of various sizes and of varying degrees of maturity, the growth in those places where the sandhills have been cut away being markedly stunted as compared with those planted in level parts of the section. All the planting was done during November, and in planting a ftuart c£ J

water, which had to be carried, was given to each plant. The subsequent dry spell retarded growth, but as a result of the recent rains there is now a growth of half an inch daily. No fertiliser has been used this season, and in a further endeavour to produce smaller leaves of greater commercial value than those grown last year, the plants have been placed closer together. Picking for the first during commences next Monday, ■ and it is hoped to have fcur or five further pickings at intervals of eight days, if the plants are not injured by frost in the meantime. At the conclusion of the inspection a hearty vote of thanks was passed to Mr Bromley by Mr Dean.