The Southland Daily News, Friday, April 27, 1894,

said: "The Californians had over 15,000,000 of fruit trees, besides 225,000 [unclear: ac] vines. In 1890 they supplied the wants of a quarter of a million of fruit-eating [unclear: p] and in addition, shipped

This in addition to making 17,000,000 gallons of wine. There was no country which the climatic conditions were so favourable or had, in proportion to its [unclear: s] large an area of land suited for the production of good apples as New Zealan[unclear: d], trees were early and abundant bearers, the fruit large, handsome, rich in [unclear: flaroz] of quality equal to anything that could be grown in any part of the world. Th[unclear: e] could be grown upon almost any soil—except peaty on the one hand and ver[unclear: y] clayey on the other—which allowed extension of the roots to a considerabl[unclear: e] the most suitable soil being a deep rich calcareous loam. Apple culture wa[unclear: s], fore, bound to become a source of wealth to this country, as the fruit could b[unclear: e] in so many ways—for home use, cider-making, drying by evaporators and [unclear: ex] If practicable apples should be picked on a moderately cool day and placed in [unclear: a] ately cool shed protected from the sun in which case they would not gather [unclear: mci] page 9 [unclear: ing] given some valuable hints as to the storage and packing of fruit, evaporation [unclear: nning], Mr. Blackmore said it might be