COLONIAL INDUSTRIES.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 100, 29 April 1871, Page 2

COLONIAL INDUSTRIES.

It is a pleasure to find that the local industries of Nelson are not unnoticed in the other provinces. We published on Wednesday an extract from the letter of a special correspondent of the Otago Daily Tirres having reference to our cloth manufactory, and to-day 'we quote what he has to say on hop cultivation in Nelson : — " The cultivation of hops, both for local use and export, is now an industry of considerable importance in the town and neighbourhood of Nelson. . The locally grown hops, indeed, although selling at a price, (2s. per lb) above. that of the imported article, have hy their superior : excellence quite driven the latter out of the local market. Considerable quantities have also been exported this year to Canterbury, Otago, Wellington, Hawke's Bay, and Auckland. The soil in which hops are planted should berich-and warm ; ' shingly and sandy soils. are injurious to the plant, which never thrives on them. As in the case of chicory, .-the ground must be thoroughly - turned over before ; planting, and this is generally done, with the spade. Manure,also,is a sine qua ?ion to the success- ' full cultivation of rthis crop. Horse- and cow dung are principally lisecl in the Nelson plantations, but : pig dung is regarded as the best ; Guauojis not recommended. Hops are an expensive crop to bring into proper

cultivation, the cost being reckoned at over j £100 per. acre. Of this a large portion is incurred for poles; of which some 1200 -go to the acre. Manuka is the best wood for these poles, which cost 6d. each, and last for three or four years. A small crop may be obtained in the first, and a fair one in the second year, but it is not until the third year that the plant comes into full bearing. It will then, with proper care, bear for 30 or 40 years without requiring to be replanted. The root must be cut every year to prevent it spreading and forming a tangled mass, and a yearly application of manure is also necessary. The price paid in Nelson for picking hops is 3d per bushel, and the majority of the work is done by boys. Labor, indeed, is the great want in connection with this industry, as it is necessary that the hops, wheu ready, should be picked with as much expedition as possible in order to avoid the risk of the crop being destroyed by bad weather or high winds. For the same reason ten acres is regarded as being a sufficiently large plantation for any one person, though a gentleman on the other side of Blind Bay is reported to be preparing to plant 40 acres. The average weight of the crop is from 15 to 16 cwt per acre, equal in value at 2s per lb to £16 ". and £179 respectively, though as much as a ton, and even 30 cwt per acre, has been obtained in exceptional instances. The cultivation of this crop is extending in Nelson, and I am informed that there are reasonable prospects of the success which has attended it iv the past continuing to do "so in the future. The plant is much more free from the attacks of insects than in England, though of late some damage has been caused by an insect, supposed to be the cicada, or "singer". This insect cuts a small slit in the edge of the bine as if with a penknife, and in this lays its eggs, the effect being to cause the hops to turn brown. As yet, however, the damage done by them is small. Insectivoros birds are regarded as the best means of checking the evil. The persons by whom hopplanting may he most advantageously undertaken are small farmers with large families, by whom the picking and weeding may be done, and the great cost of those operations thus avoided. Attention is now being turned to this industry in Auckland, but I have not heard whether it has actually been entered into in that province or not."