STRAWBERRY SEASON.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 December 1915, Page 3

STRAWBERRY SEASON.

OUTPUT REDUCED BY HALF. LIGHT CROiP OF FRUIT. Good supplies of strawberries have been received in New 'Plymouth from Auckland during the last week or two, but it is estimated that the total production of the Auckland strawberry beds is only half what it would have been had the weather during the past two months been reasonably fine. Last year the growers contended with a drought, which lessened their profits -consider ably; this year' the unusual amount of rain has reduced the output by 50 per cent. The thief enemy of the growers of strawberries is blighht. This pest attacks the leaves of the plant, and then fattens upon the stem and base of the berry, practically destroying it. In dry weather the grower can keep the scourge in check; but iu wet weather the blight makes rapid headway. When the rain lasts for weeks, as has been the ease recently, the blight simply sweeps over the beds, ruining great quantities of fruit. From tile present date until the middle of December is the "flush" of the strawberry season. The finest produce of tho beds is now being poured into markets. By Christmas the last of the main crops, will have reached the tousumer, and from then the supply will rapidly decrease until, about the middle of January, the last berries will reach the market. The Waitematft Fruitgrowers' Association, which handles ffi per cent, of the strawberries marketed in Auckland, reports that the great bulk of the fruit is still grown on the north shore, mainly at Northeote, Bi-kdale, Glenfield, and, to a lesser extent, Birkenhead. Considerably smaller quantities come from places along the ftaipara line, from Mount Roskill. and from the stations along the south line as far as Manurewa. The association reports that this year there will be a light crop of all stoned fruits, such as plums, apricots, nectarines, and peaches. Last year, when the orchardists had to contend with a drought, there were large quantities of fruit marketed; tiiis year, when the weather conditions stand at the opposite extreme, there' will be a shortage of the fruits named. Growers offer various reasons for this. .Some think that it may be the result of the trees overbearing last season; others suggest that the wet season prevented the bees from getting about among the fruit blossoms and fertilising them. The growers, however, will find compensation in their apple and pear crops, both of which ate expected to be very good.