584 



Journal of the Department of Agriculture. 



II. — Suvvmary . 



Western Province Fruit Crop. 



According to figures furnished by tiie Railway Administration it 

 is estimated that the annual grape crop of the Western Province is 

 not far short of 100,000 tons, produced in the following districts, 

 A'iz. : — 



Paarl 25,0D0 tons. 



Worcester 22,0D0 „ 



Stellenbosch 18,500 ,, 



Robertson 10,000 ,, 



Montagu 9,500 ,, 



Malmesbury 6.000 ,, 



Tulbagh and Ceres 4,500 ,, 



Capetown and Wynberg 3,000 , , 



Caledon ' 1,500 ,, 



Total 100,000 tons. 



With the price of wine averaging £20 a leaguer, and about 90 

 per cent, of the total grape crop bought up by the distillers, it followed 

 that table grapes were worth more than 10s. per 50-lb. basket during 

 the 1919-20 season, as compared with 2s. 6d. before the war. 



Upwards of 20,000 tons of fresh fruit were carried over the South 

 African Railways during the 1919-20 Western Province deciduous 

 season, a slight reduction on the figures of the preceding'^ tliree seasons, 

 due, chiefly, to a larger quantity of grapes than usual being pressed 

 on the farms on accoiint of the abnormal price of wine. Of this total, 

 about 9000 tons went to the jam and drying factories, 6000 tons to the 

 markets in the Transvaal, Free State, Natal, Rhodesia, South -West 

 Africa, and the Cape Eastern and Border Provinces, 3000 tons to Cape- 

 town and other local markets, and 2000 tons to the Docks for export. 



The annual production of AVestern Province deciduous fruits is 

 not far short of 130,000 tons, of which upwards of 90,000 tons of grapes 

 are pressed into wine, and about 15,000 tons of stone fruits and grapes 

 are dried on the farms, the remaining 20,000 or 25,000 tons of stone 

 fruits and grapes being transported by rail to the jam factories, the 

 fresh fruit markets throughout Soufli Africa, and to Capetown Docks 

 for export overseas, 



