CO-OPERATION AND FRUIT.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1373, 26 February 1912, Page 8

CO-OPERATION AND FRUIT.

ADDRESS BY MR. T. W. KIRK. An address on various points in connection with the fruit industry was delivered by Mr. T. \Y. Kirk, Government Director of Orchards, before tin- Canterbury Fruitgrowers' .Woeiaticn last Saturday. Mr. Kirk strongly advocated co-operation in I the industry. Jle meed that the association should become co-openitive. slating that this course had a beneficial efi'cct wherever it had been tried. la Central Otajo it had boon the making of the district. He einphasi.-ed ti:c necessity I'cr growsrs in all parts of New Zealand organising to develop the industry, so that one locality coukl supply anther in which there was a scarcity. For that reason he was glad that the Canterbury -Association had joined (he federation. As an instance of ""useful co-cperation, Mr. Kirk mentioned the co-operative testing acres that were established in some centres. In these the grower supplied the land. Government save the trees and provided an expert primer, and the as-o-ciation supplied the labour. Of late thorp had been a great deal of trouble with tomatoes in Canterbury. It w,a.s proposed to establish co-operative test , ! 113 acres for tomatoes, to discover the reason why they had failed locally, and ho hoped that the association would interest itself in the matter. The bcs.t way of preserving fruit trees from damage by frost, the speaker stated, was not the usual method of creating a dense smoke by burning damp vegetation. Oil heaters . . . were no-.v supplied very cheaply, nnd from SO to 85 of these were required for an acre of orchard. A thermometer was placed in the orchard, which, by an inßpiiiyiis contrivance, ra:ig an electric bell in the house when the temperature fell to freezing point. These heaters were, however, unsuitable for greenhouses. Ho wanted to see the export trade in apples revived in Canterbury. There had been an export trade sonic yee.rs nveviouslv to South America. There was no fear of the Homo markets becoming glulfcd with fruit.' When the export' trade in frozen mutton had boon established, it had bren stated that the Home markets would be oversupplied, and the prices would fall very law. But tliey had not done so yet, and the same thing would be the case in tho matter of the fruit export industry. Australian fruit was already widely distributed. The improvement of ccol carriage, which wns now developing rapidly, would have a valuable effect on such a trade. Japanese tiliuns from Australia had arrived in England in excellent condition, and, bein,? a novelty, had fetched high prices. Packing was also of great importance. Ho had on his staff two expert packers, end one of these would visit Canterbury nnd give demonstrations of packing. One of them was already giving such demonstrations in Nelson. Jlr. Kirk mentioned tho fast that grading machines were being used more, and more extensively in packing, over forty-five ner cent, of the total export of Tasmania the previous year having been put through graders.