FRUIT PRODUCTION.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4397, 31 March 1922, Page 2

FRUIT PRODUCTION.

Mention is made during the course of an article in this issue, “Paeroa Vineyard,” of the fruitgrowing properties of the Ohinemuri foothills. Even the most unobservant person cannot fail tb notice how well both pip and stone fruits grow on some local soils. It is strange, therefore, that so much of the fruit sold in the shops in Paeroa has to be imported. It is said that during the season, from one kind of fruit alone —apricots—-Thames growers receive some £4OOO a month. There are sheltered places on 'the Paeroa foothills equally suitable for the culture of stone fruits, and the production of these and other kinds—natural pests, notwithstanding—should become a payable industry. It must be recognised that along with fruit-growing a jam factory is a desirable manufacturing concern, and this, too, is worthy of consideration. Many tons of fruit are wasted during the height of the season in both Paeroa and Thames, which a factory at a central place like Paeroa could turn into jam. But the desideratum is to grow early and late fruits, and not those which come in when there is a superabundance of fruit of every kind. There is scope here for enterprise on the part of individuals or firms seeking an avenue for profitable investment and opportunity to build up lucrative businesses.