STRAWBERRY GROWING IN WAIMATE.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 137, 5 December 1901, Page 3

STRAWBERRY GROWING IN WAIMATE.

'■HO "Till! IUnTOK. Bxe, —Having read the ‘leading article in your i-isuo of Thursday last on the above subject, I am compelled to come to the conclusion that a - greater insult'Could not possibly have, been heaped oa the heads of agriculturists, and especially those engaged in sti-awberryculture. than the remarks made use of in the said article. -Per- ; haps we are a thick headed lot and are ; slow to learn the best methods of ’ working our land even from an editor, but the majority of us claim to know as much abou r,* -titeawfe *: ry grow mg as the two Government Pomologisis and the editor of the AuriiiiTiSEii chucked in. Allow me to toil you, sir, that a large number of growers have tried all the good sorts' to their loss, and have found that they will not grow in this district, arid if you had taken the trouble to ask some of them you might have • spared yourself the trouble of writing the article, ■and also spared the heads of those upon whom the insult fell. The La Marghuerite is the only profitable strawberry that will grow here. That is proved by 'men who know-'as much as the Government Pomologist, whose wages would be better spent if given to ’some charitable institution. It is all very w«U for Mr-Fitch to go to a conference of Waimate delegates composed "of a ’storekeeper and a miliar, and run ■down a struggling class of men whoare doing their best lo keep an industry afloat in - the -district, which ■ finds employment for many boys who would otherwise be hanging about the streets. -Let him v {Mr Fitch) come to ■us and point out a piece of land that will grow a certain strawberry if he. can, and show us how to grow them. This I defy him to do without experimenting, aud l am afraid it would end up in failure, the same as it lias done with many others. You urged every one to go in and grow small fruit. How are they to get them picked ? That’s a nut for you, sir, to crack.— I am, etc.,

D. R. Buckingham (A Successful Grower}