50 THE FRUIT INDUSTRY 



or so of land, on which they have built themselves 

 a house, using the remainder of the ground for fruit- 

 growing. It was a small holder of this type who 

 introduced into the district the tomato-growing in- 

 dustry, now being extensively followed there. Ac- 

 cording to Mr. William Temple, who gave evidence 

 for the Clyde Valley growers, there are 400 holders 

 of 3 acres, 300 of 5 acres, 500 of from 10 to 15 

 acres, and about 100 who grow strawberries on 20 

 acres or over. 



Fruit-growing in the Blairgowrie district situate, as 

 Mr. J. M. Hodge has well described, ' on the last slope of 

 the Grampians, looking down on the fertile Valley of 

 Strathmore ' has now been carried on for over forty 

 years ; but it was twenty-five years ago that it began to 

 attain to serious dimensions as an industry, while in 

 1899, and again in 1903, the further increase of the 

 business received such an impetus owing mainly to 

 the combined effects of small holdings and of co- 

 operation that the quantity of fruit sent away from 

 the district now amounts to 1,500 tons a year. Even 

 that figure is likely to be doubled in the course of three 

 or four years, judging from the amount of additional 

 planting that has been done. Climate and soil are es- 

 pecially well suited to the production of raspberries, 

 and one witness from Blairgowrie told the Departmental 

 Committee how the raspberry-canes there grow to a 

 height of 5, 6, and even 8 feet so that the pickers have 

 to use ladders and how in some instances 6 tons of 

 fruit to the acre have been gathered, the average being 

 3 or 4 tons. The present area under fruit is about 800 

 acres. The agricultural value of land in the district is 

 from 253. to 303. per acre. Leased land for fruit 

 culture lets at from 5 to 10, and small allotments 

 round the villages or towns realize 12 per acre. The 



