OHAUPO.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 2601, 14 March 1889, Page 3

OHAUPO.

Suitability of Soil von Fruit Culture. —The suitability of our soil in this locality for fruit growing cannot be questioned, a visit to some of our orchards being ample evidence of that fact. Mr Hunter, sem., a few years ago planted an orchard on the hill side at the back of his houso, and most of the trees, although young, are loaded with fruit. The situation is well suited for tlie purpose, the slope having a northerly aspect. Some of the " Biamarcka'' that have been in only a couple of years, are bearing well for such young trees. I saw two trees of some kind of dessert apple, the name of which I have not been able to learn, but which, are to my mind, the best flavoured apple I have ever tasted. It is a very large sort, very handsome, being streaked with red on one side, the other having a slight tinge of yellow, the fruit is moderately firm and exceedingly juicy. But tho capabilities of this soil are not confined to producing superior fruit. The heaviest crop of oaten hay I have ever seen was grown here on this farm, off two and aquarter acres. Mr Hunter has a stack of oaten hay ten yards long l<y five yards wide, a yield which cannot well be beaten in the country, and otf the stuep .dope of the orchard he took twenty-five tons of carrots to the acre. Let us hear no more about the inferiority of our Waikato land niter this, at any rate of the inferiority of tho Ohaupo district of Waikato. Mr Hunter in conjunction with the late Mr Martyn, cut a drain through the bush, lowering the lake which lies between them four feet six inches, this has had the effect of draining tho bush and giving cattle access to a lartre amount of good feed, Cattle can now go all over the hush which was impossible before the drain was made, and places which could only be waded through on foot can now be safely ridden over. If the drain were deepened a couple of feet more, the clearings made by timber cutters could be surface sown and so give good feed all the year round, as it is there is a great amount of rough food upon which cattle fatten remarkably soon, but by surface- sowing the amount of feed could be very much increased. This bush should be a valuable property, for besides the big trees suitable for building timber, there are thousands of tons of firewood in it. With the beautiful lake and bush upon it, this is one of tho prettiest residences in the Waikato, and Mr Hunter should bo well pleasod that his lines have fallen in such a pleasant place.

Mu Potts' Ohcharp.—One of the most successful fruit growers in tlie province is Mr Potta. By skill in selection and industry, he has established a magnificent orchard, a visit to which vniild well repay anyone. Tlie very must is made of the ground by skilful nianaffi-ment iinrl cultivation. Hundreds of gooseberry_ bmhes are growing among the larger fruit trees, and not a weed is to be By constant attention the insect pests so destructive to fruit are kept down, hellebore kepps down the leech which is so severe on uluins and pears, while bands are ktipt around the applu trees to catch the codliu moth grub. This destructive insect has been almost entirely exterminated, scarcely a grub is to be seen this year, and by next jear the orchard wiH'be entirely free. Indeed there has been no loss of fruit this year by them, but the bands are still kept on the trees as a precautionary measure. IE other fruit growers took the same trouble, the moth would soon be a thing of the past. The band for catching the grub is a very simple contrivance, consisting merely of a piece of sacking about eight inches wide, this is doubled, reducing the width to four inches the strip is cut to a sufficient length to go round the tree, and pinned there, these are looked at about every two .days and any grubs found destroyed. The backward i-iJring of last year was very unfavourable to tlie insect as the moths were not hatched out till the apples weie formed, consequently they had no suitable place, to deposit their eggs. There is one pest however against winch Mr Potts has found himself powerless, that is the root blight which has killed some very fine trees in his orchard, but as one tree dies another is planted in a fresh place, and so the supply of fruit is ensured. He has had enormous crops of pear?, plums, and apples this year, great numbers of trees having had to be propped to prevent the branches breaking. Mr Potto is trying the experiment nf sun-drying plums, and if successful, he will have an evaporator ne:;t year. There is no reason why plums .should not be as profitable and saleable a fruit in a dried state as peaches or apples, and with the immense quantities of fruit of all kinds grown in the country, there is no reason why we .should continue to send our money out of tho country for foreign dried fruit. Besides drying there is another means of utilising apples which is very little adopted, that is cider making. A few men are trying the experiment this year, others it is to bo hoped will follow their example, it should be a profitable industry. To ill . Potts is duo the credit of being the first importer to the province of the celebrated " Farmers Glory " gooseberry, and the fate of the first tree hung by a very slender thn ai. He explained to one of his sons the operations of tho borer which is so fatal to tlie gooseberry, and one day the boy, who waa looking out of the window at the tree, saw Bump, dust fall from it, he called his father who on a very close examination found the bole the inject had made, he cut the tree otf at the spot and found the borer had gone downwards ; lie cut away till ho got to him. The tree sent out fresh shoots below the cut and so the life of the first "Farmers Glory "was saved. Mr Potts prupogated from this, and now every gardener in tho district has some of tho descendants.