THREE WEEKS EARLIER THAN USUAL

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 88, 8 January 1935, Page 11

THREE WEEKS EARLIER THAN USUAL

Marketing of Soft Fruits OUTDOOR TOMATOES NOW ON SALE “The hot dry weather in December has acted like a forcing house with most of the fruit, which should not have reached maturity yet in the ordinary course,” said a fruit merchant to a “Dominion” representative yesterday. Now we have the soft fruits tumbling in on us—an excess supply fully three weeks before its usual time. , , Domestic jam-makers, who look to operate with these fruits about the end of January, will find the season well over by that time. The weather, which has helped to make the crops good, will curtail the season. “Another proof of the forwardness of the season,” he continued, “is the fact that during the past week we have been getting tomatoes grown in the open. Up till then all the tomatoes which have been selling through the holiday season have been grown in hothouses, mostly in Nelson. Now the outside-grown product is coming to hand, fully three weeks before their usual time. “As a rule we usually get the Central Otago apricots toward the end of January. We have been selling them for the last two or three days already. According to advice the crop is a bumper one, and I estimate that the season will be a short, sharp, and cheap one.” Greens Plentiful. Green vegetables are in good supply in spite of the absence of rain. It was possible to purchase large cases of Saturday’s lettuces in the markets yesterday for 1/6 and smaller cases for 1/-, so that no one should be without salad on these warm days. How vegetable growers managed to keep up the supply in such weather was explained. It seems that those growers of lettuces, cabbages and cauliflowers, in the Hutt Valley, have practically made themselves independent of rainfall by sinking wells all over the fields and tapping the inexhaustible supply of artesian water that percolates through the great subterranean gravel beds of the Valley. It must not be imagined that, as soon as a bore is put down 50, 100 or 200 feet, the water flows up spontaneously. While that is the case in some instances, in the majority of cases it has to be pumped up. The usual practice is to have several bores put down in strategical places in relation ,to the cropping areas; then by the use of a small portable pump, electrically driven, use that well nearest to where the water is required. In some instances the well supply may be exploited by revolving sprays, but in the case of lettuce and root crops the land is just flooded. To spray lettuce in sunny weather is to create slime and rot. Lettuce must only be fed from the earth. Light Crop of Potatoes.

Due to the prolonged dry season, potatoes were in short supply during the holidays. Crops now being dug are distinctly on the light side. The recent rains up country will have benefited those likely to be marketed toward the end of the month. After a good deal of speculation as to Jamaica as an alternative supplier of oranges for the New Zealand market, two shipments have come to hand. The one which landed in Auckland in November was fairly satisfactory, but with the Mamarl’s lot consignees are not nearly so well pleased. Both in size and quality the oranges were not up to the best Jamaican standard, and, though they were being sold at 3/- and 4/- per dozen during the New Year holidays, it could scarcely be said that the value was there. .Shippers at Havana are being advised accordingly.