FRUIT GATHERING.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2260, 2 April 1886, Page 2

FRUIT GATHERING.

In parts of Kent hundreds of acres are devoted to strawberries, are Bomfl- ■ times grown under fruit tree?;, but for the most part are planted in the open in rows, about two and a half feejfc apart and one and a half feet from plant to plant. Ihe plough is run between tho rows in autumn to keep the plants on tidgea. and assist in the drainage of tho roots In spring the ground is lovelled, and a sti*w Utter laid between the plants,' in order to' prevent the fruit from being splashed by the rams, When ripe, that required for dessert purposes is picked with stalks and gathered into small baskets, 'which are emptied into sieves holding about twelve pounds, and for each of these a pioker gets threepence. Tho packing is a task ; requiring considerable neatnesa'and skill, : and the practised hands sit in rough sheds built in 'the 'fruit-garden'?' all tha summor days, arranging tW.jjpe staw. berries with their leaves in the 'punneta • these again are packed in hoxesviontaiu' mg sometimes thirty and yktimog juty baskets, and are sent off infl| s or by train to tho markot. The bruild or over-ripe fruit, .termed " squashors,>re paoked m casks, and disposed of atW, mo or the jam factories. ' '< 99 An idea of the amount of fruit \ Town may be gained from the fact tliat; from six to eight tons of strawberries have been sent in a day from one farhi alone, and from 100 to 125 tons forwarded by one grower to market during a sinelo M The value of the erop varies from £2O to £6O per acre for best fruit m or niA qUasher3 '' aiKl i ;,lnfruifc . from £ls to £2O per ton, After gathering, the runners'are cut away and, with rofuse, taken, to the contra of the alleys, which are then due and planted with lettuces. ' , A plantation lasts good five years, and la not in good bearing order until the second year. The cost of the runners' ii about 5s per 1,000, and al^out^oiplant? per acre ™ firghards, ant} Under the shade of the trees; tkcost oi planting an orchard with trees W abqut £2O per acre, and three years before the berries give sufficient crop to make a return. TJireo juindred hands are often omiiloved at a time on a largo farm, and the earnings of the industrous are considerable : food hands can make as much a> Ub a day at gooseberry picking, though the average sum is . only 6s. Gathering coinmencos as soon as - tto berries are at all suitable, and tho busf»J ire stripped at one picking from -te.nfto • '"irty acres cleared, in. a wepfe, ■ j iccordmg to the requirements-of the.' • narket; and as a week, even in favorable i>' veathor, only consists of four and a halri; 5 Jays (from Monday morning to Friday atl'Sf '0 clock), tho amount of is' mraease; and hands'aro reQuiro.d to bo n the field from three nornmg till dark,- and even Wfe. lonally been expected to pick bylaiitortii'