DUNEDIN-GROWN STRAWBERRIES

Evening Star, Issue 20053, 19 December 1928, Page 4

DUNEDIN-GROWN STRAWBERRIES

4,000 POTTLES FROM THREE ROODS Quick delivery being aa important consideration in strawberry marketing, so as to preserve firmness and flavour in tho fruit, it is of interest to Dunedin that culture on a commercial scale has been successfully accomplished no further from the heart of our city than an easy twenty minutes’ motor run. Mr Henry Bennett, nursoryman, whoso property is just below tho Brown House at the Upper Junction, lias taken to strawberry growing as a side line. His father began this work as far back as 1887, and it is now extended, an aero of the land that slopes to North-east Valley and faces the south-west being set apart for the purpose. There are two such plantations, one about a quarter of an acre, on which the suitability of soil and situation was tested, the other a patch of three-quarters of an acre devoted to young plants that are thriving wonderfully in a loam 18in deep on a clay subsoil. The variety selected is a cross between Saxon’s Noble and Sir Joseph Paxton. It grows low to the ground, and has very large leaves of a dark colour. The plants set out as runners in July are now fruiting, and the older plants are amazingly prolific. The berries are deeply coloured, largo, firm, and of exquisite flavour. Not one “dud” appears in any of the rows. Mr Bennett calculates that he will gather 4,000 pottles from tliis threequarters of an acre—in the present season. The plants show no signs of disease or blight. Grubs were a nuisance at first, but regular tilling has mastered them. Strawy malching is not used. The loaves suffice for shading, and preservation of the berries from contact with the dirt is effected by top-coating the ground with cocoa husk, which when rotted acts as a fertiliser. It is estimated that the profitable life of these plants is tour years. These particulars indicate what may be the beginning of another commercial product near to Dunedin, since transit is minimised, and perhaps the success attained may serve as a suggestion to willing men who would like to supplement their earning.