Sunnyside.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 23 December 1890, Page 2

Sunnyside.

" When are you coming to see my vines this year," said Mr Nye to us a few days ago, " you should come soon or they will be ripe." We therefore paid a visit to the Sunnyside vineries and very much enjoyed it, as anyone would who appreciated seeing plants thoroughly cared for and doing well. Mr Nye has four glass-houses, measuring over three hundred feet in length. They are of different widths, and range from eight to twenty feet, the longest house (158 feet) being the widest (20 feet.) This gives him 600 square yards under glass, or one-eighth of an acre. From our previous notices it will be remembered that this work of Mr Nye'B has been slowly and carefully built up, and the area has only been increased as he has found the best sorts doing and paying well. It is difficult for an amateur to say more than, that the vines appear to be doing as well as it is possible for them to do, being literally covered with splendid bunches. The grapes are not ripe, and will not be yet for sometmie, though Mr Nye did hurry us up, and did we not know the i'good old sorV' lie is/ we stiotild

have said that he preferred the fruit not being ripe when we were near. This would have been a dreadful insinuation against Mr Nye's well known liberality, and we remembered the very handsome samples he sent us to taste last year, and also - his invitation to come again soon. But without joking a a visit round the houses is most interesting. ~ now to see the size of the out-' line of the bunches, and the care and trouble that has to betaken to obtain fine fruit. To show how the vines crop, Mr Nye assured us that off a couple of quite young plants, that covered no very large aiea, he had removed 80, bunches to give the others a show. Another vine we noticed had bunches that hung down two feet in length. You may also notice the grapes in a bunch thinned out, to allow those left on to swell, and other portions of the same bunch > spread away* from each other by being tied up to wires by flax. To keep mildew, red spider and other » troubles from the vines, much Jftt^ ' be done, and what that is tv^Bß? leave to those anxious to worin^TO of Mr Nye themselves. A trip throughthe houses proves that all these evils have been- kept at a distance, and that no plants could look better. To water the vines, every house has a pipe with tap, conveying the water from a large wooden tank alongside of the dwelling on the hill. Wa shall certainly find it necessary to see how the grapes look when In the longest JflHH^v Nye planted this year twq^H^K tomatoes, which now sfcnnßHHrour feet high, in fact they touclr^e roof in the lower row, and the fruit stands thick, large, and in many cases ripe. Tlnsfruit or vegetable is stated to be ojpnueh service to the liver,^nd^ is a splendid appetizer either JHBb cooked,:.^oi < _made^;in|p..;i : siei|ice.^HpF Nye willy for s^ine' -time to cornf; have plenty for sale. ; Also in this vinery, it is the hottest, he has a very large number of cucumbers, and certainly their surroundings agree with their growth. A monster we were obliged" to measure, and found that its length was seventeen inches, and its girth ten inches, not a bad little weapon for a Donnybrook fair ! "V One more plant is growing in this house, and the only item that troubled Mr Nye to name. He had given us the true name and pedigree of every grapevine, and of these heposjMses twenty-three varieties, butthMßftt, .beyond its being a bean, besHHb. We were so glad, as too greaiaPex- „; hibition of knowledge is afiHoying. | The be'ah is one that enjoys heat, A and throws out a pod, which, in its J| present infant state, measured seven-^j teen and . three-qiiarter inches. In IJH the town of Cambridge, in England, 1 it is the fashion. to sell butter by the I yard, in France bread by the circle 1 or foot, but in New Zealand, at | Sunnyside, it will be more precise to "\ order so many yards, of a bean, if ' that delicacy is to be indulged in ' economically, and you desire that none shall be cut to waste. Mrs Nye's garden around the j house, though situated onWhill, is full of the dear old flowers" of countrified England., as well as the finer and more aristocratic specimens. We have no knowledge of the finer kinds, so shall attempt no description, all we can recommend is to go and and see them for yourselves, and we oah assure you of a hearty and hospitable welcome from our old friends. The double dahlias were very handsome as were the poppies, and they were thick in flowers of many a coloured hue. We know of few places were some hours can be so pleasantly And profitably passed, as at Sunnyside.