The Feilding Star, Oroua & Kiwitea Counties Gazette Published Daily. WEDNESDAY. MAY 13, 1896. THE FRUIT-GROWERS' CONFERENCE.

Feilding Star, Volume XVII, Issue 264, 13 May 1896, Page 2

The Feilding Star, Oroua & Kiwitea Counties Gazette Published Daily. WEDNESDAY. MAY 13, 1896. THE FRUIT-GROWERS' CONFERENCE.

One of the results of to* Fruit Conference, which has just closed its labors in Wellington, should be a revival of the interest taken by the public generally in horticultural shows Some years ago, when "times were better," no doubt, this colony was noted for the excellence arrived at by both professional and private gardeners in the production of fruits, flowers, and vegetables, for exhibition in the various centres. The cost of getting up these shows was infinitestimal when compared with the advantages derived by the growers, and the pleasure received by the visitors thereto, not forgetting their grand utility as a means of education for the rising generation. The real hard, work rested on the secretaries first, and then on the members of the committees. For reasons which can only be conjectured a sudden apathy fell on those who formerly had been active promoters, so that, ■ especially in this district these shows lapsed altogether. We. have strong hopes now tl^ab that state of mind will be reinp\ ed, to!give place tbabetteroiie. Ic ' re<jiiires one; man, earnest in

the work he intends should be done, to take the lead and he will soon have plenty of followers and assistants. As regards this district, which embraces the Manchester Block, the Oroua, Eiwitea, and Pohangina Counties, we have men resident competent to undertake the culture of every one of the thousands of varieties of fruits, flowers and vegetables, which grow with such healthy luxuriance in this mild climate ate. Given the opportunity of showing I what they really can do in that direc tion, there is not one of them who would not gladly avail himself of the opportunity. As for trees and plants, why, during the past twenty years the number of them imported and planted in the recently cleared farms, may be numbered in tens of thousands each succeeding year. Of course, many of these trees have perished from neglect or other causes incidental to plant life, but thousands of them yet survive to give evidence by the abundance they yield of the fertility of the soil, and the suitability of the climate for their cultivation. It has been proved to a demonstration by the Conference that this and the other Australian colonies are capable of supplying the markets of the world— all the year round — with fruits common to the tropical and temperate zones, and "thns secure a trade not only profitable at the outset, but capable of development into proportions impossible to estimate. Under these circumstances then, we hold it to be the duty of everyone, and particularly of those who have either a special or a general knowledge of the subject,^ come forward voluntarily and undertake their share of the good work, without waiting to be dragged or driven into it.