(Special e Review returns down the road,’’ he
“Saanich Peninsula fruit growers remarked, ‘‘Right now it’s look-
ed | eir first commercial crop
getting a commercial. yield of
‘quality fruit and: maintaining

prices.

“And there are a lot of vari-
ables we haven't gol ‘answers to
yet. yy,

Having an assured water su upply
is vital. ‘‘These plants drink

Harvesting began when the sugar”
. econ of the fruit reached 6.5

a soedlings

-LWO. hundred and fifty fruit to the 7
vine.
An important yield for this :
stage of * the | growth, but it is only |
a begin inning. Our goal is to have-

~ three times that many”’ stated Ian’

64

Vandreight saic
hale it. In t
they grow vigoreusly.

vers Association of
Columbia. take up to 40 gallons of water a
- of the plants I’ve scen — day cach.’’
in California have more than a-
thousand fruit to” the: vine,’’ he
added, _
_ The spirit of the pioncers, who
came here less than 150 yearsago
“to create what we have | today, ;
lives on. Confronted by a scrious:
_ Ooh the Pioneer | takes a new

7 Fruit Gr

David Pendray, another Saanich
kiwi grower, commented, ‘‘It is

that working

10” Wide
YX 43" Lona |

ERAN LN RANKS

“Ivs a Jong term ‘investment for .

ing promising. It’s a question of |

water like nothing else docs,”
“They just in- —
peak of. summer.

Vandreight, president of the Kiwi “Three or four inches a day is
Not uncommon. The plants can -

an expensive crop | to: get started. a

ovast a as other rests cos" have, he
ks Plants to frost two ears ago.
He i — Early in the 20th Century, Now

; yc x oplimnism, He noel 7
with the: vines. is

They harden up, the bark

stand

The | i has been in super-

_ markets for almost 10 ycars. For
‘sometime, many people ignored

the fruit in their little brown
husks.

“Sometimes called the Chinese _

oseberry, the k

i originated in

ihe land-of the silkworm and the.
There. it

peach -- Yangtze valley

was known as Yangtao.
Noting that. there ‘are many
nuances in the Chinese language

Dr. Daniel Bryant, University of

Victoria, Department of Pacific

and Asian Studies, suggested that

(eral translation of Yangtao

_ could be “willow peach.’”

Botanists gave it the name ac-

‘tinidia chinesis, later changing it

to actinidia delicosa.
an Eng

ens in the

~ seeds to England. Little was ‘made “tk

of it.

ing ci

gels oped only when cross s pollinizae
thicker and better able to with:
rost.””

growing th became scrious about,

hia where it is successfully grow

are about 20 varicties of the: plant 7
with only a few producir

Bruno and the Chic
-have been grown. at
ment’s ©

preferred vari

lishman, collect- ~~ beir

oe withstand. temperatures that are.
_ well below Freeai ng.

yk as” ‘an omamental. va
pant. No all vines bore. fruit It
are t that the plants

tion took place.

In the late 1940s, New

wing the > trite So much so

From ew Zealand the. . plant
-imported to northern Califor-.
n

in the Sacramento Valley. Th

g edible
fruit.

‘Ron Quay of Agriculture Cana-
da observed that the Abbou, the |
“Hayward —
he depart- .
on the Saanich

“farm

~The | Chico-Hayward is “the
Ly here, :
Somme | experimental work s

is “15 feet is considered ample space. .
A litle. crowding. may nol be i
At present harmful. - Bren
commercial If the ‘gardener - shes 10, have oh wt ‘ulturis
- fruit at harvest time, he must have ~~ For the ¢
~ at least: one male and one female garde:
plant... os :
The B.C. Ministry of ‘Agricul. Chin
ture: and ‘Fisheries offers, -aS-

als home. gardener may ‘find
that the Kiwi arbour ends grace, ;

“DAP SILICONE .
_ CLEAR, WHITE, BROWN S
1 SATHTUB WHITE