FRUIT-GROWING.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1498, 22 July 1912, Page 8

FRUIT-GROWING.

WEAKNESS OF LOCAL MARKETING.

, Dealing with the progress of thefnnt industry in his anuual report, the late Minister for Agriculture (the Hon. I. Mackenzie) says this development is being brought about with a view to establishing an. extensive and regular export trade in the best commercial varieties ot apples, a trade which owes its initiation largely to the assistance given by the Government in the shape of subsidies and bonuses. It is a mistake to think that the English markets offer the only profitable outlet for our exportable surplus. It- has been proved this season that profitable returns can be assured, from both South and .North American markets. In- I quiries w-ere received from South America j for 80,000 cases, while- a shipment carried in cpol r storage to Vancouver was landed in .excellent condition and sold at good prices.. ~..,,' . The yield of the orchards during the season was excellent. In many cases local markets were glutted, and low prices were in consequence returned prcducers. 'This ■■unsatisfactory state of affairs would have been largely obviated had grcvers some extensive system of combination for marketing their fruit. A weakitc-ss of.the local .marketing has been the r-ishmg of large''quantities of apples, often immature, on to already well supplied markets, instead of spreading the supplies over a longer-period. In ithis connection the qnestion of cool-storago should n t-eivo tho serious consideration of glowers. Owing to tho surplus -f soft fruits (m many' districts) which the local retail market could not absorb at profitable prices,,growers -are now looking to fruitcanning as a means of relieving the markets during the height of the season, and thereby ensuring <i profitable price for their, produce. It is probable that by next season several co-operative canneries will 'lie- established. In Auckland it is I proposed to establish a co-op;ratire canI nin'g''company with a'icapifcil- ?f. There is no iudustiy which offers tho same good-results from co-operation as does that of fruitgrowing, and it is thereI fore gratifying to see the increasing imI portance, attached to this,principle.