The Feilding Star, Oroua & Kiwitea Couties Gazette Published Daily. MONDAY, APRIL 27. 1896. GRAPE CULTURE.

Feilding Star, Volume XVII, Issue 250, 27 April 1896, Page 2

The Feilding Star, Oroua & Kiwitea Couties Gazette Published Daily. MONDAY, APRIL 27. 1896. GRAPE CULTURE.

lit a letter to the New Zealand Times, Mr H. Lowcay, a viticulturalist from the Cape of Good Hope, states he has just completed a tour of the North Island, where vines are cultivated. He expresses the opinion that this island has everything favorable to become a great-wincUßntre, and expresses^sjtonishinent that such a source of prosperity and revenue as viticulture has been so long overlooked, as grapes mature in the open and possess all the qualities for making 'an excellent wine which would compare favorably with the best class of French wines. He recommends the planting of vines on a large scale. He declares there are , thousands of acres in Hawke's Bay cni the Wairarapa, where vines would grow to great perfection, and yield heavy crops. Varieties alone should be selected that are most suitable to the particular land on which they are to be planted. Jfe speaks favorably of the wine, made in the colony. In our neighborhood there are several localities where the grape vine thrives wonderfully wel 1 , both in the open and - under cover. In fact, 'we can say without fe*r of contradiction that we have x>ne grower in Feilding whose grapes, cultivated under glass, are not to be surpissed in the colony. There are sections of land up the Makino road admirably adapted for the purpose/ also in the Pohangina county. The only ihings reajly wanted are the selection of varieties— a.s Mr Lowcay buys— and contintnd close attention on the part of the cultivator. ; ' the quantity of grapes imported into

the colony in the shape of different kinds ot raisins, etc., is considered, it is a matter of surprise that this very important subject has not received greater attention. Thert is a lot of money in it.