THE FRUIT INDUSTRY.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 449, 26 February 1890, Page 5

THE FRUIT INDUSTRY.

EVAPORATION OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLES. LECTURE BY MR A. F. SPAWN. An interesting and instructive lecture was delivered last evening under the auspices of the Auckland Industrial Association by Mr A. F. Spawn upon the evaporation of fruit and vegetables. There was a fair attendance. Mr Spawn had arranged on the table samples of fruit and vegetables prepared by his patent evaporation process. Some of the exhibits were in a dry condition, whilst others were soaked and ready for use. On the motion of Mr Champtaloup, Mr C. T. Wren occupied the chair. He briefly introduced the lecturer as an expert from America versed in the manipulation of fruit. It would be generally acknowledgad that in N#w Zealand they had not gone sufficiently into these things, but had preferred to go in for big companies and such grindingmachineswhich had aruinous effect upon the colony. They need not ignore that there were other systems of drying fruit besides that advocated by the lecturer, but he felt sure that Mr Spawn would furnish an amount of information.

Mr Spawn said that for the last two and a half years he had been advancing the fruit industry in Australia. He saw that it was adapted to fruit-growing, and he invented a fruit evaporator, which was much cheaper than cunning. His labours for the past 2-£ years had drawn attention to the other colonies. He had a plant working at Melbourne Exhibition, and many had said to him, “ Why don’t you come over to New Zealand ?” Ultimately he came over to this colony and put up a plant at Napier. Ho might say that it had given great satisfaction, and they wished to purchase the right for the whole of the Hawke’s Bay district. His idea had been to start one plant for the whole colony. When he returned to Dunedin he was told that Auckland was the fruit-growing country. At Wellington he gave a lecture and had fully 500 present. He was a little disappointed at not having such a large audience that evening. In America the fruit-growing industry had developed into a great thing. In the midland counties the people go on with small farms. That was what they wanted in this colony. (Applause.) They made small farms pay by studying well how to make their work as light and pleasant as possible. Where he was raised their farm was of 100 acres, and 70 of that was bush, and never was a tree cut down to waste. There the stock had to be kept under sheds for several months and hand fed. The farmers’ houses were real good buildings, and they lived comfortably, although only on 100 acres of land. The 100 acres would be cut up in 10 acre paddocks put down in various crops, but there would always be a 5 or 10 acre orchard. The ground was well cultivated and consequently it produced heavy crops. Still they had to stand cyclones, tornadoes, and heavy rains, such as he believed they were not troubled with in New Zealand. He had been struck by seeing the young men hanging round the railway .stations in New Zealand, smoking and talking about racing. In America those young fellows ( would be all working. Mr Spawn then described the system of having bees to husk corn, etc. They also had apple - paring bees, at which they had a jolly time. These were the pleasures of farming, and it tended to keep the young people together, and made them think of their homes. In America the fruit was nob all picked at once and rushed into the market. It was stored and taken in gradually. The Pacific Coast was the great fruit-growing place of the United States. It was just 20 years ago when he went to San Francisco, and then fruit was very dear, as most of the holdings were large, and everybody went in for wheat and such like crops. They did not mako a fortune out of it. Then the people flocked to San Francisco by thousands, and in a few years the panic came and people were forced on to the land. Then they took a turn for fruit-growing. Some of those growers were amongst the wealthiest now. One grower dried last year no less than 51 tons ot apricots. The fruitgrowing industry resulted in doubling the population of California. You might now travel miles by train and see nothing but orchards. Yet there was very little fruit wasted. In the colony of Riverside 19 years ago they started a fruit colony, but it took six years to got the water from the mountain for irrigation. The population was 6,000, and 10,000 acres were laid down in orchard, and the assessed value of the property in the state was four million dollars. All that came from fruit-grow-ing, for it was purely a fruit growing colony, lb was a barren plain before it was taken up for the fruit growing purposes. Mr Spawn said that when in Victoria he read a paper before the Fruit Growers’ Convention, from which he would quote what was applicable to New Zealand. He stated that he saw great room for improvement in growing fruit and vegetable’. Soil should be so utilised so as to get its best results, and to do that they must go in for fruit. Jf destructive insect posts came they must fight them energetically, and let nothing go to waste. The large number of land greedy farmers should be a thing of the past. He urged the necessity for going in for small farms well wo'-ked. There was no danger of over-production of fine large fruit. He had seen men starving upon 1,000 acres of land, while another man with a ten-acre orchard would make a good living. Fruit-growing colonies were the most prosperous in America and generally the holdings averaged twenty acres. Small farmers might command success where large farmers met with disaster. Mr Spawn then quoted a mass of statistics to show how prosperous were American fruit-growing colonies. Now, as to the fruit-growing of New Zealand, he must say that he had not been much over New Zealand, but he had no doubt that the North was the fruit-growing part of the colony. Here the people to*d him that they were kept back by the rail ways, codlin moth,, and other things. He believed there was a great future for New Zealand. In a few years they would have a direct line of steamers to Vancouver, and that would boom the colony. (Applause.) There they would have a good market within a few days’ sail. Many varieties here would come in earlier than over there, so that the fruit would sell well. Lemons, for instance, would pay well. One man in Australia told him what he got off his few lemon trees, and at the rate he stated the return per acre would be £296. Orange culture had made great strides in California, for they had a variety now that did well, and he believed it would succeed here. One of the best fruits they could ,: grow here would be the prune plum. At Napier he found that plums did well. In one garden at Napier 3cwb of plums were sold off one tree, at one penny per lb. That was 25s per tree, and at 20 feet apart £179 5s 4d per acre would be the return. On the table before them were some of the results obtained from his evapoi-ator. Five pounds of apricots reduced to one, but when soaked they came back to their original weight. The dried fruit was sold at: Is 6d per lb and

now it was selling well in Australia. It was much more economical than canning, besides the fruit kept its original flavour. It was the same with other fruit. Mr Spawn then showed samples of dried apricots, grapes, peaches, prune plums, apples, figs, pears, sultanas, grapes, quinces. He claimed that the prune plums would pay well if grown in New Zealand. Mr Spawn next showed samples of dried vegetables, including onions, carrots, turnips, parsnips, pumpkins, potatoes. The lecturer also alluded to the production of sweet maize in conjunction with pumpkins. In America they eat sweet maize like green peas. In growing the corn, the farmer had the stalks and husks to feed his stock. He believed all they wanted in New Zealand was waking up. (Applause.) When he came to see the fine country and splendid market that they had in Now Zealand he felt that if he had the .power of the Almighty he would wake them up with an earthquake, and whilst they were on their knees praying he would write on the clouds, “Go to work, or I’ll touch up another.” (Laughter.) They had one or two grand industries here if they attendod to thorn, such as frozen meat, flax, wool, and the gold. But he considered the fruit industry would be worth millions to Auckland. Fruit colonies were being started rapidly in Australia, and New Zealand should take up the industry as soon as possible. Mr Spawn then showed his apple paring, peach paring, and plum pipping machines. He said that in New Zealand they wanted the fruit market regulating. Fruit was said to be rotting on the ground, and yet it was dear in the shops, and had to bo imported from Melbourne. Mr Spawn also exhibited apple cider vinegar, and oxplained methods of carrying fruit. He pointed out that only the common fruit was dried in America, whilst the best was marketed fresh. Fruit could be dried by his evaporator and sold at 8d per lb over the counter, which would then return a good profit. Mr Spawn signified that he was willing to answer any questions. He also thanked the press for the liberal assistance afforded him. If it was not a good thing would the newspapers push it along? He took it that the newspaper men, being intelligent, saw that it was a good thing and would be a benefit to the country. He believed that they could compete with America in the fruit markets of Europe. All the canned fruit came from the Pacific Coast, and it had to be hauled 3,300 miles to the coast, and then it had to be shipped to New York and from thence bo London. In Auckland he had seen magnificent ships that would land the fruit in London at a less cost than it could be hauled the 3,300 miles from the Pacific Coast. It seemed to him that in Australia and New Zealand the farmers wanted the Government to do for them whatever the Almighty left. Why, in Wellington when they had nob’grib enough to take up the fruit-drying industry, they suggested that perhaps the Government might give a bonus for the first fifty tons of dried fruit produced in the colony. Why, he never heard of such a thing as asking the Government to pay them for taking up an industry that would pub money in their pockets. He really believed that it was time they had a few tirst-class funerals in New Zealand, and then they could get those 20,000 acre farms cut up and put to some good use. Inanswerbo Mr Champtaloup, Mr Spawn said that it would take £llO to put up a complete fruit-drying plant in a country district. That also included a cider mill.

In conclusion Mr Spawn warned people not to be be put off by croakers. He said that they had them in America, and he supposed they were about in the days of Noah. No doubt, when they were up to the neck in water, they would still assert that it was only a passing shower, and that old Noah was a crank when he built the ark. He said that, if the industry was started in Auckland he would import choice varieties of fruit trees which had proved the most suitable for drying. Mr Hay said they had the fruit, but what they wanted was a man like Mr Spawn to start the industry. Mr Spawn then answered numerous questions as to the best varieties of fruit for evaporating. Mr Bell moved a vote of thanks to Mr Spawn, and advocated the formation of a company to run the evaporator. For years the press of the colony had been alive to the importance of the fruit industry, but the people would not take it up. The Rev. Mr McCallum i-econded the motion, and said that lie had got a great deal more than his shilling’s worth of information. He confirmed the statistics quoted by Mr Spawn. The vote of thanks was carried unanimously. “ Auckland Star,’’ Fobruary22.