The Chronicle. PUBLISHED DAILY SATURDAY, MAY 20, 1911. AN EXPERT ON FRUIT CULTURE.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 20 May 1911, Page 2

The Chronicle. PUBLISHED DAILY SATURDAY, MAY 20, 1911. AN EXPERT ON FRUIT CULTURE.

An address wdl worthy of careful .study by all persons engaged in fruit culture was that delivered in Levin on Thursday evening by Mr Houcher, M'lio is the Agricultural Department's assistant - director if orchards and garde-ns. Mr BoueOier'" testimony to the suitability <if Levin's soil and climate for apple, peach and pear culture was welcome confirmation of the views held by those settlers in these parts who bare backed their ow.n opinions by extensive planting of fruit trees. The favourable opinions regarding Levin and district expressed this w'cvk by so high an authority as Mr Houcher are certain to induce a greater number of oinr settlers to iindertake fruit growing for moneypro iliK-.ing purposes. Jn this resppet Mr Houcber nind-ea nell-deserv-c I acknowledgiueiit of the valuable i-n:'s served I'cr pumologists by the Government's Kxperiinental Farm at Weraroa. To g.iv<.' sjK-cific instances, it may be said the Weraron K.\|)eriincntal Kami has proved nine varieties of peaches and live ot apples to be cspcciallly well suited: by the soil and climate of this district. Quite a number of other apples still arc under observation iiir.l test at the farm, and there is fair reason for anticipating tli.it several of th'r-se. will be domonstrati:l as useful sorts for our locality. Incidentally, Mr Boucher touched some 10-al instances of the ino.st irritating experiences that nan bofall any experimenter. We speak of criticisms by visitors of work and tests that are only hnlf-done, and of experimental failures whose vary non-success ensures savings of time a'ud money to the whole class «,!' orchardists. This j>oint is of some importance, and in order that it may lit 1 emphasised we reprint in this column Mr Boucher's comments. He says: "On a section of the State Farm orchard at Weraron, ..'licli H.'is already in existence •■vlh'.i the farm was transferred to the Department of Agriculture, a large number of sprayinii' compounds have been tested for the control of cotllin moth, mussel scale, red spider and wholly aphis. In this connection it may be noted that compounds that have given good ~ l'esuilts in other countries may not prove eqirally effective in Sew Zealand, owing to the somewhat different climatic conditions and for others reasons; consequently, a compound: introduced here under high .recommendations if placed in the •hands of and used by the commercial grower, would be follow-

cd by, to him, possibly disastrous results in the loss of the value of a crop, and eveai more or less serious injury to his trees. That this might have been the case has been proved repeatedly on a small scale at Wera-roa, result of careful experiment, a consiideta'ble number of failures have had to be recorded:, a fact which has caused some criticism by visitors who have noticed the existence of orchard pests on the section devoted to the testing of spraying compounds, but failed to observe that the same pests were practically. tent on adjoining sections of the orchard, which had been sprayed with compounds already avted and of proved value." This -aspect is one that roiid Le applied to various cases. Many a.i» experimenter has had a useful enthusiasm dampened, or even killed., by unkind criticisms based on insufficient understanding. Puis comment, however, is By the way. We are sure that fruit growers , ajb.l dairymen and agriculturists all recognise the debts they owe to the Weraroa Experimental Farm (..r researches,, and experiments ma.'ie oai their behalf, andi that against each single unkind critic tlherei are to be found a hundred appreciative people or more. And as to the educational aspect of pomology, k& are sure that the lecture cjeliyereci

by Mr Boucher will l>e immediatel.v valuable and also enduring in Its effects. Knowing as we did the prospective importance- and which fruit growing would assuredly confer upon this district, we arranged to have the lecture reported in exteiifio, and it is to be hoped that all our readers who are interested in the subject will carofiuly preserve yesterday's Chroniclo - or future reference and guidance. The address of Mr 'Boucher sets out in a concise form the lessons dechie-'id from long expensive experiments, and any new venturer upon l|:c field of pomology who studies it -rell may save himself from serious losses, and certainly will enhance his prospects of speedy profits.