SEVERE FROST

Hokitika Guardian, 19 November 1929, Page 3

SEVERE FROST

TOMATO PLANTS SUFFER

Jl' . * ' UNSEASONABLE VISITATION

•CHRISTCHURCH, Nov, 3,8. ;,'A’most unseasonable frost of 10.4 dewrought havoc in gardens and orchards throughout Christchurch and the. surrounding districts on Saturday morning,:-ahd. i: the loss in the province occasioned by the visitation will, run into. .thousands • - of., pounds.- Tomato plants appear to have been most sevand small hplders iir the" industry in the Heathcote district will be’ very hard hit-' as a result. Those growers on the hill slopes escaped lightly p; The frost was the more inopportune, as a preVious one on October 24Hi': : . :'had already retarded what gfbwth had not been killed, and in addition ‘‘replacements”, .for. dead, tomato plants will” be difficult to, obtain-,; owijng to the drains, on such quantities ds-were' available when" the previous low temperatures resulted in a certain amount of loss.' '■ ■ Saturday’s frost was quite unexpected. It'> followed, as frosts so often do in ; Canterbury, on a sou’-wester on Friday night. Friday had been hot for' the greater part of the day, but u,e change from nor’-west to sou’-west 'conditions lowered tlie temperature in .a shprt space'of time, and even be-; fore the sky cleared, the thermometer had dropped to 4(1 degrees at midnight. With a clear sky about 3 o’clock, in the morning, the frost set ija* hard,•.• with results that are deij<mi.Qed, by, growers of small produce as disastrous..