BOTTLED SUNSHINE.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 April 1916, Page 6

BOTTLED SUNSHINE.

IN A HAWKE'S BAY VINEYARD. I ! (By a Wayfarer). What does New Zealand grow? Any |Taranaki youngster can answer the question. Butter and cheese, will be his j reply. But the Hawke's Bay edition of New Zealand's rising generation will answer, "Fruit." .Should the said youngster hail from near Hastings he will be | more definite, and will answer, ''Grapes ! and apples." Fruit-growing is one of the most pleasant of outdoor industries, and by all accounts it is extremely profitable in this exceptionally suitable climate and soil, and in the hands of people who handle the business properly. But fruit-growing ia no good to the shirker. There's work to be done, and it must be done at the right time and in the right way. Some people could learn a lot about grape-growing' from Mr. H, Travel's Twiss (formerly of Stratford), now manager of the Te Mata vineyards, near Havelock North, and about five miles from Hastings. I didn't sound 'him for details, but I heard quite incidentally that the Te Mata vintage this year yields some 15,000 gallons, as against about a third of that volume only two or three years ago. The excellent season has had'something to do with it, but the introductfbn of the California)) system o*£ pruning 'has had its effect in a remarkable degree. The Te Mata vineyards are the property of one of IJawke's Bay's most wealthy landowners, Mr. Bernard Chambers, who took up grape-growing as a hobby. Unlike many men who begin experimenting, Mr. Chambers was not easily cast down, nor was the bottom of bin pocket-book easy to touch. One result of 'his little hobby has been to prove that the wine-grape can be successfully grown on the Havelock Hills, while he has also successfully demonstrated that the New Zealand-ntade wine can hold its own against the best.Down in the vrine-eellars is a-fine array of awards and certificates. '- In'competition with European wines, the Te Mata product won a gold medal at the FraneqBritish Exhibition in London, in. 1908; another at the Imperial International Exhibition, London, in MOO; still another at the great Japan-British Exhibition at Shepherd's' Bush in IfllO; and so on. In the cellars at present some 70,000 gallons of wine are maturing. The great casks, or barrels, hold up to 1200 gallons each, and represent so much imprisoned sunshine, one day to be liberated from a bottle by the simple expedient of drawing a cork, when it will once more bring its sunny influence to bear.

Mr. Twiss is always glad to show visitors over the vineyards and the cellars, and Taranaki pestle are guarantied a particularly hearty welcome. At the present time there are some 45 acres in vineward, and all the best varieties of wine-making grapes a ro- grown. In addition, apples and apricots are produced in abundance, and of a quality that must be. classed as first-grade. Here, as well as in the vineyards, can be. recognised the touch of the master-hand in pruning, (he production of fruit-spurs on tlie trees being prodigious,i. AH around the district are other orchards, whose output is marketed direct by the grower, or through the various oganisations which have been launched to facilitate economic sale and distribution. The sidings, stores and sorting rooms of the Hawke's Bay Fruitgrowing Company at Hastings present a very busy scene just now, apples being in the ascendant. And what apples they are, tool