THE FRUIT INDUSTRY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 26, 29 January 1913, Page 8

THE FRUIT INDUSTRY.

PEACHES, PEAS AXI) PLUMS. It is well for us to admit uow and then that all mankind does not live 133 “Cow” alone. The following tasty nous from a fruit country strikes us like a refreshing breeze. It is contributed to .the Eltham Argus by Mr J. F. Andrews, a one-time member oi the stall':— “The Frimley works are canning peas by the ton, and hope to reach a total of 200 tons this season, against 150 last year. Machines shell the peas, one contrivance doing 1 ton per hour. The factory employs a lot ol hands. We are allowed to eat as many ripe peaches as we can tuck away, whether the boss is about or not j he does not mind, because ripe peaches are not a selling commodity. They will not travel to the markets, so the fruit is picked, according to colour and size, almost green. Those wo don’t manage to stow away in our ‘little marys,’ we throw down under the trees. They help to fertilise the ground, says the boss. “The weather is hot. ‘Hot stuff’ is the term I apply to a summer spent here. One can wear ‘nothing but nowt,’ as I heard a chap say, and then feel uncomfortable. To-day, January 20, the thermometer registered 96 in the shade, and 120 in the sun, and one has to conform to the laws ol decency and wear something more than a neck to knees costume. “Hastings is a growing town and this is mainly attributable to the fruit growing industry. The population of town and district must be 16,000, and nearly all of the residents have a peach or plum tree in the back yard adver tising the fact that Hastings is tin place to grow fruit. “The wages generally are good, and the open air toil the best, so it k not surprising that many people are found willing to roll up their .sleeves and gather in the fruit and ‘beans’ In toiling in an orchard,, said people otherwise not being enamoured of anything approaching work.”