FRUIT GROWING.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3195, 15 April 1911, Page 10

FRUIT GROWING.

WHAT NEW ZEALAND IS DOING

There is at the present time an area of only 28,554 acres devoted to orchards in the whole of the Dominion, and an area of 063 acres of vineyard. If all the orchards were in full bearing and yielding an average good crop, this area could not give the population of New Zealand much more than half a pound of fruit per day, even inclusive of jams, bottled, dried, and canned goods. As the orchards are by no means all in bearing, and as the whole area certainly will not cary an averagely good crop, it will be seen that New Zealand is by no means well supplied with fruit for its own requirements. According to the statistics published in the New Zealand Official Year Book, the Dominion imported for 1909 (the latest statistical year) fruits to the value of £317,351. This amount is made up as follows (in the usual vague and unsatisfactory manner common to New Zealand statistical reports)Fresh apples, pears, plums, etc., £11,537; apples and pears, £17,359; currants and raspberries, £319; grapes, £4.525: lemons, £10,221; other kinds, £121,688; lemon and orange peel in brine, £3,035; fruit pulp and partially-preserved fruit, £1,126. Dried fruits, such as currants, raisins, figs, dates, prunes, and fruits bottled and preserved make up the balance of the-amount, the value of bottled and preserved fruits amounting to £25,924. , , , If one deducts from the total ot £317,351 for imported fruits £200,000 as paid for fruits which we cannot easily raise in this country, such as the banana, figs, and dates, it would still leave over £117,000 for fruit, which New Zealanders might well produce themselves. But if good varieties of New Zealand grown dessert apples, for instance, were available all the year round, as they easily might be with the assistance of cool storage, the amount of bananas and dried fruits consumed would be considerably lessened.