A chat with the Government Fruit Expert.

Manawatu Herald, 3 May 1894, Page 3

A chat with the Government Fruit Expert.

b... Mr Palmej, the Government Fruit Expert, is at present in Wellington, after journeying all the way down the West Coast, visiting the various .brohards and meeting the orchardists en route. Mr Palmer found the Taranaki and Manawatu orchards to be chiefly devoted to apples. There were not many wholly new planta- , lions, those he saw ranging upwards of three and four years old. Of the apples, he found Coles' Rhymei* everywhere doing well, as were the American Golden Russet, Rome Beauty, and the Reioetle dv Canada. The last-named Mr Palmer thinks one of the best apples that can be put dowo. While in Taranaki Mr {•aimer Judged at a show at which the Remette was exhibited as a oooking apple, and he oame in for . jome strong criticism by giving the ; prfae to the Ohinemuri. This was a .new. apple, raised in the Waikato, which in the Auckland market would •iteftlita sd per pound more, whole--7!s£ t^n the Reinette, . For an : •fiayly eating apple Mr Palmer relfio^mendanßhodes'. .Orange, which does well in the North, and for the earliest the Red" Asfcvachan, which reaches Wellington from Auckland about Christinas time. Coles' RhymerieLprCfmiain^ well about the Waiter 4: '■■■".. • ■ Mr thinks our fruit indugtrrHi |n ary«ry bad way. There £ ia no 1 Vjßtematio oulture, and the art of pr inipjf is "utterly unknown in . the m ijbrifcy of instances. Pruning and f< edinjpftre particularly behind hand^-#e : ' yery : strongly ad voca fees thjt of experimental MRfflfflWe&t the chief centres, ffiKtf?, ; tfr*f '■ wnnid be. readily ac o|^ffire^tmd where assnred stocks coma i ße' x bptain'e'd ; by • subscribers, and 'iHe^'va'ribits ' blight ; specifies, M>4ecticides, , manures, pumps, dud inachiheiry' -generally, could secure aji'^xhau stive ; trial. Ho does ntifc believe in State experimental farms where! itfaey are difficult of access*, but consider^ that so many could be taoght sfc State orchards and .farms pear .the centres that they would ijuhply repay the outlay upon them. •^SW'bwil method is to go through {j^prc|iards in any particular distriotw and then arrange for the stttlehr to meet him in some particular orchard, where he can practically illustrate his talk.. These *?*/s&s \imtxtisa KaWjp^Vea "Very popuffl^ j and* naVe invariably r'estlfced fji requeats to come baok and give #&!•■«"/■,:' ■■■ "■■ " ' ..':. < • ' On the subject of pruning, Mr Palmer says the utmost ignorance preraili in many quarters. As a general rule he advises one single olea# r sken>,' and for this reason ■ettlere should plant " maiden " ftMkfti 86 that i they will be able to cut pff |y, jtO. the spot at which they wish M Norancb. Three branches at right angles are sufficient, and so ttmtcsboofa in .that flower should be left. In *he following year these ihwritk/fo©' cut down to about sik in«)m£|.^ People do not prune enough. PqgjJtfAS tvfi so much weakened, by disease^in many districts that they warf^JEJk shoots to be well cut back ts get strong wood, and care must be taken tojout to the growing bud. ixß^epypne who has spent any appreciable time in the colony reinemjbM&tiPhak a paradise of peaches it »*&!"*/ the good old days—how a matt was safe in many districts to traveMeng journeys, taking no proMtoo* with him, and relying ot> the ftfcflf B6 (f %buld be sure to find alon| rfflry^rabk and gully — and luscious those old peaches were. The French missionaries, coming themselves T from 'frujt-growing districts, bad taught t£e- natives whenever they 4tocJ* ipeach to . step off the track and ]Hli£thd;4£pne \a the ground, where with the care with which the Maori fond supplies; it became 'the parent of a goodly grave ot J^pfeidlypveseryed trees. In fact, in f such districts resembled ■ iqQßt^scep.t for the lack of men— ' 'iojftei parts of. Japan and of Holland, Jliifiai&.the genus larrikin does not consider it has duty to destroy all

that is beautiful or of public utility. The blight swooped down and swept the peach groves into mouldy decay, and for years drove growers to distraction. Now, it is interesting to learn from Mr Palmer, the peach is reviving. The Thames was the last district in the North to be devasted with the blight, and singularly enough, it is the first to rise superior to it. Around the Thames peaches are now nearly clear of blight, and one man alone canned some thousands of tins this season. But we must grow new sorts, is JVIr Palmer's dictum, born of the ftiojrtsh'evh experience ; and those he recommends — in the order of their ripening— are Hayes Early Canada, ■"ar'Tery 'early ripener, maturing in the middle of December. Early Rivers does well in many places, and it is followed by Hams 1 Early Rivers; Early York, Grosse Mignon, Early Newington, Noblesse, Prince Alfred, Hillmah's Seedling (an Auckland raised seedling, a beautiful peach), C Eagle (another good one), Lady Palmerston, and Wager. These are all good hardy trees and good bearers. But there are three very fine Waikato creations Mr Palmer recommends strongly, and these are Champion, Miss Sharp, Jubilee -all fine seedlings, given in bearing order. ■;•• After the good news Mr Palmer brings we may hope (hat the land of Maui may once more become the land of the peach. , But to return to our apple 3. There is very little evaporating, Mr Palmer found, done along the coast all the way to Wellington. On the Northern Wairoa and about Port Albert a Mr Grubb is getting 9d per lb for his evaporated apples, getting more for Ohinemuris' than for any other, bud for Mob's Royal, Mr Palmer considers the best evaporator, as 61bs of fresh fruit will make lib of evaporated, whereas it takes 71b of any other to do this. Other apples Mr Palmer recommends to growers are Golden and Stunner Pippin, Adams' Pearmain, and Simon's Water, the last named of which, where the locality suits it, will not blight. For a first-class blight-proof cider and eating apple, "La M "Abbey " Pearmain is strongly advised, But peaches and apples, important as they are, do not complete a mixed orchard. Mr Palmer is strong on the subject of plums. Mr Coehrane, of the Waitakerei, from an acre of plums sold by auction this year over two tons of fruit, and from one tree — a Pond's seedling grafted on ar^ old peach— he took £7 worth. "Where our orchards are in open, 'loose soil, Mr Palmer says we will have to grow all our plums on the peach,-hnt most of- them will have to be .." double worked." In the heavy soil around Palmerston they must be grown on the plum stock. The Japanese plum Mr Palmer strongly recommends. The earliest he knows is the Hatankin, which docs excellently in suitable places. Other good ones are Botan, Kelsey, Ogau, Shirisomo, Satsuma, and Burbank, These are being very much planted in the North. They require very hard pruning — cutting back to at least six inches. Otherwise they will overbear to such an extent that they will become barkbound and exhausted. — Pout,