FRUIT PRODUCTION IN NEW ZEALAND

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 89, 9 January 1935, Page 14

FRUIT PRODUCTION IN NEW ZEALAND

Many Varieties Growable

THE ORCHARD NATURE’S DISPENSARY

(By R. D. McCully)

Nature has endowed New Zealand with good' soil and an abundant supply of sunshine, and under sueh conditions it naturally follows that almost every type of fruit can be grown. Country residents everywhere—and even the town dwellers too —boast their fruit trees, theii strawberry patches, their stands of raspberry canes. Certain areas in New Zealand have been found particularly suitable for fruit production on a commercial scale, these being Auckland, Hawke’s Bay, Wairarapa, Nelson, Marlborough, Canterbury, and Central Otago, and in all these areas fruit production has passed from a pastime to a real commercial proposition. Indeed, from these localities each year approximately 1,500,000 cases of specially graded apples and pears are sent to England,. France, Germany, Sweden, Canada, United States of America, and South America. This annual shipment includes no less than fifty-one different varieties of apples and tjyenty-eight varieties of pears. Of course, it must be understood that many of these varieties are not grown in large quantities, and indeed the great majority of the apples seen in New Zealand shops can be sorted out into something less than a dozen varieties. The Berries and Stone Fruits. Strawberries and gooseberries come in very*early, making their appearance usually in October or November, depending on the season, and of course, it is quite usual for some of the family to miss the Boxing Day picnic to stay at home to top and tail buckets and buckets and buckets of fruit in prepar- | ation for jam making. Our real stone

fruit season commences usually at Christmas time, extending until March or April. The fruits in this group include cherries, plums, peaches, nectarines, and apricots. Climatic conditions have an essential bearing on the length of time which each individual variety takes for ripening and as even here in New Zealand we must own up to variations in our weather from year to year, it is impossible to define any exact period for each class of fruit. However, in a season with normal weather conditions the harvesting periods are approximately as follows: — Cherries, from December to February; plums, from early January until March; peaches, from December to March; nectarines, from February to March; apricots, from January to March. Stone fruits are available during the height of the New Zealand summer and it is a real advantage for us to have these soft juicy fruits during the period of our hottest weather. They are not really remarkable for their keeping qualities, and it is only under special conditions that stone fruits can be preserved for a few weeks by cool-storage. Bather they must be consumed within a brief period after picking. Very large quantities are grown and sent direct to factories, where they are caned or manufactured into jams. Such varieties are quite distinct from the dessert fruits, being firmer in texture and not possessing the juice and flavour characteristic of good eating kinds. The bottling varieties are all procurable in our shops, but the dessert kinds perhaps predominate. The First Apples. The first apple arriving on the markets of the Dominion in large quantities is ; the Gravenstein. It is a variety which grows well in Auckland, Hawke's Bay, and Nelson, and is a very crisp apple having a high juiee content. When ripe the skin is greenish yellow with red stripes prominently marked. Our next early variety is the Cox’s Orange Pippin, popularly known as the Cox’s. It is not unlike the Gravenstein in appearance, except that on the average it is ‘ smaller in size. Many people regard the j Cox’s Orange as the finest dessert apple grown anywhere in the world. Certainly those that we send tc England each year command a very good market price. Both , these varieties appear in the shops from j about January until March and like other ■ early fruits, are not the best keepers, ; They should be used within a reasonable 1 time after purchase. I Now we have reached the-period when <

our mid-season varieties are ready and the two varieties of outstanding merit are the Jonathan and the Delicious. Both these apples are in popular demand overseas and large quantities are exported. The local markets of New Zealand also receive a large share of Jonathan and Delicious—not only fresh from the orchards, , but also later in the winter months when 1 supplies are drawn from cool store. The Jonathan is practically completely red in colour and when fresh is very crisp and palatable, while later it softens and is in- ' dined to be somewhat spongy in texture. The Delicious has red stripes which often cover nearly the whole skin and which show a very deep red colouring when pol- > ished. The principal . characteristic is . the group of five crowns surrounding the . Calyx, or “eye.” The average apple when ripe often has a patch where the skin, is more or less green: this is usually a spot not reached Uy direct sunshine. Wasliirngton and Ballarat. Usually about March or April along come the Washington and Ballarat. Both varieties are suited to cool storage and large quantities are preserved in this manner for use during our winter months. The Washington when mature is yellow in colour, while the Ballarat is greenish, with perhaps a red splash of colour where direct sunshine has burnished the

skin. Aboiit this time of the year there is also the Rome Beauty, an apple not altogether unlike the Gravenstein in its general colouring, and very crisp when first picked. It is used for both dessert and culinary purposes. Then also in April and May there is Granny Smith, named after an old lady who bore that name and grew the first tree. Nature played* us a big joke with this apple. It looks “as green as grass.” hard and unsuitable for dessert purposes, and yet it is one of the finest dessert apples grown in New Zealand. It also is coolstored for use in winter months. We now come to one of the most important varieties grown in New Zealand —the Stunner. It is best classified as a utility apple. It is one of the earliest apples to blossom in the spring time, and it is one of the last to be harvested. The length of time which elapses during the growing period usually determines the keeping qualities of an apple—the longer it takes to grow, the longer it will keep after being picked. In this respect the Stunner mav be likened to the Hardwood tree, which, unlike the fast-growing pine, takes many, many years to reach maturity, and when cut yields a class of timber remarkable for strength and durability. The Sturmer features prominently in the export trade of the Dominion, constituting nearly one-third of the total fruit

exported. It is grown extensively in all fruit'districts, with the exception of the Auckland area. While by nature a green apple, it nevertheless attains a golden bronze colour, usually referred to as “blush,” particularly in districts where the trees are growiiing on a poor class of soil, and where the growth is not very vigorous The Sturmer may not be recognised readily, because this bronze blush is not completely characteristic of the variety; indeed, the blush may be absent in quite a percentage of the fruit, yet such fruit may be of first-class dessert quality. The Sturmer is procurable usually in April as a cooking apple, and toward the end of May tree-ripened Sturmers are available. Until about the end of July, most of the Stunners sold come direct from the orchards, but from August until November, supplies are drawn from cool stores. The fruit is kept in cool stores throughout New Zealand at a temperature between 33 and 35 degrees Fahrenheit, and is thus maintained in wholesome condition until fresh fruit is once again in season. Most of us enjoy a really luscious pear. As mentioned above there are twentyeight varieties exported, but for the purposes of this story we shall mention three only. Our early season pear is the William bon Chretien and this in identically the same pear as the Bartlett. Most people will remember seeing the name “Bartlett” on tins of pears imported into this country a few years ago. The William pears are now being canned in New Zealand and they are still called the “Bartlett,” when canned, following the American practice. Luscious Dessert Fruit.

The William comes on to the markets early in February and has a dual purpose; it is : a luscious dessert fruit and excellent for bottling or canning. Its most interesting characteristic is that it must be picked while still green and then allowed to ripen. Very large supplies come to tire fruit shops and its marketing period terminates about April. In winter we are all familiar with those round fat looking

pears—Winter Cole and Winter Nellis. These varieties are harvested in March and April and are placed in cool storage for supply to the shops during the winter and early spring mouths. Mention has been made in the foregoing of cool storage, and briefly the idea is this, that when the apples and pears are placed in a very cold atmosphere, they go to sleep. They are living organisms, breathing just as we do, but instead of having lungs they breathe through their skin. The breathing is really part of the maturing process and. therefore, when the breathing is retarded the rate of ripening is slackened and accordingly the fruit is kept alive for a much longer period than would otherwise be the case. When the fruit is taken out of cool store it does just wliat we do when we wake up; that is, it breathes .faster, and the maturing process is quickened. That explains why fruit which has been taken out of cool store during our winter months will not keep for a great length of time. It hurries up ripening, then “dies,” or decays. Citrus Fruits. That we are able here to grow all the various kinds of citrus fruit must be regarded as not the least of the many natural advantages which New Zealand possesses. The dietary value of all fruits has of recent years been emphasised by scientific research, and the citrus group offers these values more perhaps than any other type of fruit. We find in thorn, in the first place, an abundance of those wonderfully potent substances called vitamins, whicn are so essential to health. Very generally now mothers add a little orange juice to the baby's bottle. This is because orange juice in common with other citrus juices, contains a vitamin which is necessary to the healthy growth of the child, and also helps its body-cells to resist the attacks of disease germs. For nearly two hundred years the value of lemon or lime juice in the diet of sailors on long voyages has been recognised, and its use made compulsory. This, again, is due to the presence in such citrus juice of a vitamin —lacking in the artificially preserved foods used at sea — but essential to the nutrition of the body. If lacking in the diet, as it often is on shore as well as at sea. various forms of malnutrition arise—defective teeth, anaemia, and, in its worst forms, such diseases as scurvey. . There are also present in citrus fruits certain acids, of which citric acid is the most prominent. These are most valuable in the vital activities of the body cells, and in the removal of the waste products of the nutritive processes; for these acids form compounds in the body which increase the alkilinity of the blood. A diminution in this alkilinity below a certain point results in many types of ill-health.

Phosphates and Potash.

Citrus fruits also contain matters of direct value as food: carbon compounds, sugars, and so on, also various salts whieii are necessary in the building up of the body: phosphates, potash, iron, lime, sodium, sulphur, etc. A very important point is that all these salts, foodstuffs and vitamins are present in citrus fruit in a form which is easily made use ol in the body. A crude chemical salt may be taken into the stomach and yet be useless, because it is uot in a form which can be absorbed by the body cells. It is merely wasted. This Js not the case it we take our essential chemicals in the natural way. In fruit they are in such form that they are readily built up into tissues. Moreover, they are so cunning.y dispensed by Nature that the taking ot them is a pleasure, and it is very certain that if a satisfactory mental impression is created the effect on the body will be more beneficial. Let us therefore seek our medicines in Nature's dispensary —the orchard. Apples are good, both as food and Decause they have other qualities which help to keep people healthy. Actually four-fifths of the apple is water, but the remaining fifth contains other substance which render it very valuable. This filth of the apple is largely composed of a material called cellulose which, as the fruit is ripened by the sunlight, becomes changed into starch and sugar and so when eaten assists in nourishing the body. The apple contains also mineral salts which are necessary to build the body strongly and to keep the tissues healthy. Apples And The Teeth.

Apples are particularly good for the teeth. The most prevalent disease among children in New Zealand to-day is decay of the teeth. It is a very serious disease, -because it not only tends to destroy valuable teeth, but it undermines the general health. It should be the aim of every boy and girl to keep the teeth so healthy that they cannot decay, To do this they must be kept clean, and there are two ways of keeping them clean. One is by means of the toothbrush (which of course you all use regularly?) and the other is by eating plenty of firm fresh fruit, especially apples. When you chew a crisp ripe apple it passes over every surface of each tooth, into all the little grooves, and even into the spaces between the teeth. In doing so it sweeps away the harmful materials that may be adhering to the teeth and that are liable to start decay. Then there is another way in which apples help to preserve your teeth. You know how a nice crisp juicy apple makes your mouth water. All foods do not act in this way—some even tend to dry up your mouth —but apples cause the wafer, or “saliva,” to give it its proper name, to flow freely into the mouth, where it serves to wash away those harmful substances that stick to the teeth and cause decay. When you chew, the movements of the tongue and of the cheeks force the saliva into all the little crevices and spaces, and so the teeth are made clean.

Then again, apples have another pro. perty which is of interest in connect’on with preserving the teeth. The saliva is not just plain water. It contains many other things besides, and not only the quantity of saliva but also its qual'ty is influenced by what you eat. Yon kn -w that some things make your mouth feci sticky. That is because these particular things cause thick ropey saliva to flow into your mouth. This lias its uses of course, hut at the end of a meal you want your mouth and teeth to he left clean and fresh, and by eating an apple you not only cause the saliva to flow freely into your mouth, but it is clear and watery saliva, which, strangely enough, contains substances that actually help to preserve the teeth. Thus you will se° that apples are good for your teeth, ami when oaten after meals, and particularly last thing at n’ghf. will help to make your teeth sound and healthy. Let us then make full use of fresh fruit, than which Nature gives us no better gift.