A FORTUNE IN FRUIT.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 17, 15 October 1907, Page 2

A FORTUNE IN FRUIT.

THE INDUSTRY EXTENDING. WHAT ARE THE PROFITS? The floating of a company recently' to establish a largo orchard on commercial lines has raised the question of the value of the fruit-growing industry, and the amount of money that can bo iiiado'out of it. Wo belong to those who hold very high news of the future of fruit, and in reality we marvel that more have not already delved into the gold that is wrapped up in this industry, or that those who havo discovorcd the gold have so well kept their'find a secret. For Small Plots. Thero arc very few crops that can give such a handsome cheque at the end of the season as fruit. Whether we judge it per acre, or per man employed,'it stands very near the top. And it is essentially tho crop for a small section.' No man could make oven a baro living on ten acres of sheep, nor more than tho cost of his keep on ton acres of dairy cows. Thero aro those who question -that a man could make, a living on ten acres of poultry (though wo are not among them); and to talk of arable farming for grain'or others of tho ordinary farm crops on ten acres would be absurd. But ten acres of fruit —of the right kind, rightly treated— would ho capable of paying handsomely. Profit from Fruit. A man is supposed to he foolish who will commit himsolf to a st&toment that such and such a sum of money ought to bo obtainable from a specified area of orchard. Woll, we proposo on the present occasion to be foolish. ; We propose to say that an orcbardist who is not getting a crop of £100 worth of fruit from every acre of his orchard in full bearing is not getting a proper crop. Possible Flaws. Wo. aro aware that many orchards yield very much less than this sum. Orchards, that aro ill placed, ill drained, ill,planted, and illitonded would givo sometimes no margin of profit at all. Some orchards, woll placed .for ono species of fruit, are devoted to another for which the site is unsuited. A peach orchard in tho backblocks \jnay. fail bacauso the roughness of the journey to markpt ronders this tender fruit worthless.. The same might happen with soft 'plumsj and the softer varieties of apples and pears. Grapes may easily fail in a wrong environment, and many of the soft 'fruits—raspberries, currants, strawberries—must be consulted as to thoir favourite areas. Yet all of these fruits pay handsomely in the proper place. What the Strawberry Can 80. Strawberry crops of £200 per acre are quite common in" some seasons in the Bir-. kenhcad and Northcote districts of Auckland, though we will not tell anybody to count, on that as a regular roturn till he has had many years' experience. And then the crop is very, very expensive to cultivate up to tho £200 standard. Wo'have mot men who manured at tho rate of a ton and a half of bonedust per aero. The Apple as King. But when wo urge our people to grow fruit our thoughts dwell chiefly on apples. A man who (if unusually fond of hard work) can proporly plant and mature a two-acro strawberry patch, producing £400 worth gross of fruit, can, with.tho samo enorgy, manago moro than ten aeres of apple orchard, producing over £1000 worth gross of apples. No one who ridicules : (as fanciful)-an estimate of. £100 an acre from apples can face tho light of reasonable calculation such as any other business is subjected to by.men of business minds. •'■•:..■'. . Remedy tho Faults. .'.-,. -Wo .imagine wo are-writing, to men who are in tho business, or wlio desire, to enter it, and who, therefore, wish to shape their present movomonts or direct. their future onostowards tho highest success obtainable. Aro thoro any men growing apples who are not successful? To those wo say: '.'There aro faults which should bo remedied."/ Why should we prescrvo a valueless collection of half-dead trees wben_ healthy, vigorous ones can bo put into their places? Apple trees are easily manufactured. Enough for, ton aores can bo grafted by au ordinary farmer or his wife, or ono of his sons or daughters, during the space of a week at a cost of a few shillings at a nurseryman's for tho raw jnatorial. Land that, has never boon subsoiled can. easily, bo turned up for a ,depth of eighteen inches at'least by a couple of willing, plough.teams handlod'.by a; couple of men who Know how to manago ploughs. And if it is undrained, well pipes are cheap onough. A Calculation. ' Seeing that thoro is no justification for. undrained, unsubsoiled, unsheltered orchards, or for a singlo tree that is not an ideal for health and productiveness, it is very hard, by . any manipulation of facts and suppositions, to show a smaller income than £100 per acre. • Wide planting will give 100 trees to.tho acres. A full bearing treo , ought, to' givo not less than, four bushels of apples per annum; and at present values for-tho best market varieties .properly marketed, the' value is certainly not less thpu 55..' per bushel. Expensive Land. Most orchardists, if possessed of only a few. acres of expensive suburban land,.' would plant moro than 100 : to the acre—making the trees half-dwarfs —and thus increase,,- perhaps, their manual toil, but also increase thoir income per acre... With tho prico of land so soriously high as it is in _ New Zealand, it .will, soon be necessary to give greater attention to our income per acre. We commend for tho closest consideration the question of apple-growing.