MARLBOROUGH ORCHARDS

Hokitika Guardian, 29 November 1929, Page 2

MARLBOROUGH ORCHARDS

GOOD PROSPECTS FOR FRUIT CROP.

BLENHEIM, Nov. 27

“Orchard prospects in Marlborough are extremely bright,” stated Mr D. J, Hogg, the local orchard inspector, today. “There has been very little frost damage, and if nothing untoward happens between now' and the time for picking there should lie an increase in the export output by 15,000 to 20,000 cases.”

The only factors that might upset present calculations, he added, were drought or hail storms, but even if a proportion of the fruit' suffered hail damage, it was probable' that there would be a ready market in Canterbury, where the fruit crops had been practically wiped out by severe late frosts.

With the local Fircblight Committee Mr Hogg has been engaged in' an inspection of hawthorn hedges throughout Marlborough, and as a result of the tour which has just been completed the district has been given a perfectly clean bill. Mr Hogg extended the tour to Kaikoura, and though he noted that a good nunibef of hawthorn hedges were affected by a borer wnich caused wilting of the affected parts, it bad been definitely established that there were no signs of fireblight. Apart from the borer, about which no alarm need be felt as far as the orchards are concerned, very little disease was apparent.