Manawatu Herald. FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 1800. Fruit Growing.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, 21 March 1890, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 1800. Fruit Growing.

Some few short weeks ago, a number of Wellington's moafc prominent business meu met together to listen to a lecUve delivered ty a Mr Spawn on " Fmifc growing and what it will do for New Zea'and." These gentlemen have been till

latwiy, r *'<h the Wellington papers cosed i from the cou tiy by Pa-'---•.a!>.'iril;i on the one side and the

imutaki on the other side, so that what Mr Spawn had to s:ty was of n ;nos'- startling- interest, and nnf'oWed wealth beyond their utmost dveauis. The very fact that Mr Sp-iwn was merely pas ing through Weli'ng.;on lent an air of realism to his remarks, Tbich would have been wa'itins.' ha<l an idea been held .hat r-nv remarks Ending to eaeoiirnge the sale of any it* l(t«?, wer- Hsedforthp sake of wishing business Our friends in the cties have always displayed the greatest anxiety for the welfare of the countryman, and after Mr Spawn j had many times multiplied the profit ■■ of one fruit tree, by so many more fruit trees to the acre, in a similar manner to the following, they were ready to shed their small change for shares in such a venture. This is how they were cornered. " Well, I wag out looking for fruit, ard a lady wy kindly allowed me to go under the plum trees and pick up some plums. In the way of conversation I asked her what she got for he" plums. She said .Id to Ud per pound in Napier. I said, could you grow plams and sell yonv Orchard at £d a pound? Oh'no, she said. Well, now. I asked hor, how many pounds of plums are there on this t'-ee ? She did not know, but she agreed theie was folly 300 lb. I u:cked up 121 b that had dropped to the ground. As soon as the plums grow ripe a lot of them crowded and fell. I said 3001 bat Id would be £1 0s a tree. The trees wee about 12ft apart (though I recommend they should be 20ft apart) 108 trees to the acre, Id a pound, £1 5s a tree ; that was only £135 an acre." Again on another sort of lruit a calculation was made, as thus: "There is a very nice apple_ I brought from Napier, I made a little estimate about tho?e app:es. Taking 4cwt to the tree at, Id per pound -and if I bad my plant here, as I have in Me' bourne. I nho'dd be glad to buy the whole I orchard— that is nr;'y £108 an ocre." Aiter an hour n.ncl ' a half of the.-^e figures, all e s itua'es, his audience were most anxious to have a shav 1 in such remunerative undertakings, and appointed a committee, having such names as Mrssvs Travers, Blair, Cock f.jd Gale, on it, to ""investigate dentils of Mr Spawn's inventions, and m ke the necessary business av f rangements for the manufacture and working of them. So, before the lecture was finished it became evideut that besides the desive to forward the interests of New Zealand, the lecturer also 'desired to forward his own. The fate of these business arrangements are weU known, they ended in an utter coUapse. Thope who were present at the lecture oh tamed a cheap evening's atuuseuient and no harm would have been done, bad not these some enthusiasts in a cause tliev did not nuclei stand, pot the JGovevnment to print and dist ib"te thin wonderfnl production broadcast over the co!onv, and for what ? The advancement of impawn, simply and sole 1 ?. We defy any one who has taken up the pamphlet to produce a singe line of useful information. To those who Hve in "<e country, it is thoroughly well known thai some fruit tYees bear ppples and others, plums and even our public school children would be capable of making the calculations of the returns [from an acre of them, at stated quantities and p- ices. Mr Spawn mentions casually his connec tion in the past with small i-rifc farmers, but never a word has he uttevred Jas to their success or even given an account of the a^tu^l income aod exoenrlitu'e of one small farm. 'Ye look upon M" Sv>awri as a vevy clever mfln, who has succeeded in what he desired to do he c, but the pnmnhlet issued is worse thnn waste papar. To a practical fruit prower there is not a us fill w>:d in th« whole 16 pages, and to the novice it wi'l prove a most dire pitfall. If hard men of the worUl aff;ev heaving fhe lecture, were r^acly to rash i ito fruit raising and drying, wh>it will not the young *»nd enthusiastic rfesh"> to do ? According to our auih^ritv. the possessor of three acres of land will in a few yean» (how many) if V has planted frnit trees upon it carefully twenty feer. apavt, be in receipt of £824 a year ! What more could one want ? A gainst al' these advantages our lecturer only admitted that " I do not say you will get 4 cwt everr year ; we must take the good with the bad ; so in all countries," then why roolcon each tree at so much a free, so many trees to the acre, and thus so much an acre ? It is not a fact, or likely to be so, and therefore gro sly misleading. We could ha dly a'k the gentleman who had a fruit evaporator to sell, besides an fipple parer, and other small items, to give any figures that would reduce the magnitude of the income to be obtained from nn acre of orchard, but to our neighbours we would suggest that such cultivations, though of much value, and deservedly to be encouraged, aye liable to vevy large items to be written off, before the nett income is arrived at. High winds, frosts, drought, Vight, lench, borers, codlin moth, sca^e, and other anxieties have to be met, and the cost of manuring, picking, packing, carting, and commission will proTi'do an outlet for a good p^rHon of the rot-urn's. Encourage industry , rssist the planting of orchards by the dissemination of useful, reliable

t works, and stimulate the formation of fruit preserving establishments, but save us from such useless pro ductions as the one under notice, which is on a par with •' How I farmed 5 acres ' an English standard work for advance- 1 , spinsters and youths fresh from school.