THE FRUIT INDUSTRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 118, 4 October 1912, Page 6

THE FRUIT INDUSTRY.

LESSONS FROM AMERICA. MR. F. COOPER'S OBSERVATION*.

(By Telegraph.—Own Correipondent) Wellington, I»st Night.

The fruit industry in New Zealand has shown a marvclloui development in the past half-dozen years, helped very materially by the Department of Agriculture. Growers have succeeded in combatting successfully the various pests from codlin moth to scale, 1 which had hitherto made the industry practically impossible. On the local markets, both in quality and quantity, there has been an enormous improvement of late, and the possibilities of profitable export are being tested with every promise of success. But there is still a lot to be learned from countries where the industry has been long and firmly established. Though acres and more acres are being planted year by year with new orchards there are at present difficulties and dangers which the experience of other lands might help New Zealand orchardists to 1 meet. On some of these Mr. F. Cooper, the well-known seedsman and horticulj turist, who has just returned from a i visit to America, has valuable advice.

EXTRAORDINARY DEVELOPMENTS. | In conversation with a Post reporter to-day lie described the extraordinary, development in the industry in the United States and America. It was on a truly vast scale, and the processes were reduced to a fine art. Asparagus might be cut in the morning and a couple of hours later be sealed up in cans ready for the market in the canning factories.- The method* which largely controlled by automatic machinery, and manual was reduced to a minimum. At the same time there was no shortage of labor, and in the west, where the chief canneries were situated, the work was largely done by Japanese. The chief" difficulty in New Zealand Was the shortage of labor. The canning factories could largely increase their' output "here if • Ja'bor were more plentiful. The season was comparatively short and everything at present had to be rushed through in a few weeks. One palliative, and ipartial remedy would 1)0 in the establishment of cold stores, where the " fruit might\be held up for a few weeks withoftt deterioration, and the supply of labor eked out a little longer than at present.'ln-Ame-rica the fruit was sometimes kept i* cold storage quite a long time before canning. Thus with suitable- cold storage at centres of'the'Yruit'lniiistry, with canning factories, it might be at least possible to supply the demands of the New Zealandjmarket, yvjlijcloftt;.present absorbed large quantities of American canned fruit, ■■■■ " , RECIPROCAL MARKETS.

.-.Further, Mr. Cooper ■ suggested .-that .America might itself furnish 'aA [excellent market for fruit and vegetables in- -fcb-: ruary, March and" April," the off season for their own produce. It, was. desirable that the Government'sh'oiiltf ettdeavos A t(s> encourage this form, of seasonal- interchange, New Zealand taking heY share "in August and September and "America" hers in February and-March. The: opening of the Panama Canal should have the effect of giving N6w access to" the enormous market' xjf the Atlantic States of America.. "Keft Zealitnd Tiad everything ini her faVor. ' fruit was here in quality, .quantity .and the. right variety lot keeping;'and the Agriculttirjal Department.. and nurserymen were both doing their to. proniote .-development. Fruit trees were just'as good and as -.cheap -here;, as in, and the climate and soil were quite as suitable for. the. production of ;the best fruit. Of course,, the elaborate machinery of 1 the American canneries, with their trdmeijidous output, would not pay -to il}stai here. Cold storage :was; tl\e -main' essential, and a closer- -co-operation irtufng growers to market .their jiocjuge tv&s I .desirable.,;: In America -there,-were-; associations of-.snlaU'.grawers.-tfhOf'kftpt-fl representative in "far distant" cities, ;i)V order to see that their:produce mafr' keted in the' best- possible" way. It would .pay,\New Zealand "growers to" isend;a:iref'. pr'esentative' to America'-to enquire- into the irjethtfrts there. '.One .'ptoper ; line#" there yras a'great future:bifor.e.-tho-ftuft ,-ind'usth' of the"'DtfrnitfiaiV.