1 10 Fruitgrowing under Irrigation 



The initial outlay for planting, including clear- 

 ing and preparing the acre of vines, is not great, 

 and including clearing and preparing the land for 

 irrigation, only amounts to 6 6s. 



The chief expense with vines is generally con- 

 sidered the trellis. Vine trellises have been erected 

 at Berri varying in cost from 10 to 15 an acre, 

 according to the quality and distance apart of the 

 posts. The average cost will be about 12 10s. 



The annual cost of cultivation and irrigation has 

 been estimated at 5 per acre, and tying and 

 pruning for the first three years at 1 per acre per 

 annum. This is as cheap as this work can be done, 

 and if anything is below rather than above its actual 

 value. 



Before the first crop can be harvested a drying 

 rack has to be erected. It will pay best to put down 

 a good substantial rack from the start. A rack 35 

 ft. long, 6 ft. wide, with 4 tiers of netting, as above 

 suggested, will cost about 10, and will hold a 

 third of a ton of fruit at a time. Allowing for a 

 ton of dried fruit to the acre, this rack would have 

 to be filled up three times. 



At first sight it may appear that interest on ex- 

 penditure should not be charged on to the capital 

 account. But it is readily seen that in the case 

 of a settler who has received financial assistance, the 

 total outlay will consist of the amount spent upon 

 the holding, plus the interest on the capital bor- 

 rowed. Also, in the case of a settler who has been 

 his own financier it is clear that the money spent 

 in channels, cultivation, trellis, etc., which for some 

 years does not yield a return, would have been 

 earning revenue had it been elsewhere invested at 

 interest. On calculating interest in this and the 

 following estimates, it has only been counted from 

 the time when the money has been spent, and not 



