|
|
| ::
Home
/ Info /
History
/ Citrus |
:: Brief Historical Review
The earliest citrus trees in the Lowveld were seedlings planted by the Voortrekkers in the Schoemanskloof valley in the 1850's. These oranges and lemons were planted purely for household use but selections from their off-spring may be of value to the Lowveld citrus industry in the search for new plant material.
The first citrus trees in the Lowveld from a nursery came from Pietermaritzburg and were planted by the late Mr. H. Hall. They were in bearing in 1898. Soon afterwards Mr. Hall established an orchard of Valencias, Navels and seedlings in the bend of the Crocodile River north of the present Mataffin station. In 1905, Mr. Tom Watkinson, a competent nurseryman, started the first nursery near Cairn siding in partnership with Mr. A.E. Bester, and began an association with Mr. H.L. Hall which was ended with the untimely death of the former through an accidental gunshot wound. Later Mr. H.L. Hall commenced a nursery of his own.
The planting of citrus was greatly accelerated when the Lord Milner Settlement at White River was taken over in 1911 by a company known as White River Estates. Orchards, mainly of navels, were established below the original White River Canal. These were expanded after 1918 and and in 1924 the White River Fruitgrowers Co-op. Co. Ltd., was formed to pack citrus fruit. Pioneers of the early days in White River were C. Merriman, H. Glynn, E. Millar and W. Barnard.
The original citrus trees in the Klaserie area were planted by a Mr. Carter H. Cleveland in 1909, and budwood from his Villa Franca lemons was used later for the establishment of lemon orchards there. Early citrus growers were Mr. J.D. Travers who planted his first orchards on the farm Champagne in 1913 and Mr. "Pump" Willis who started Fleur-de-Lys in 1920.
Pioneers in the Barberton valley were Messrs. W.J. Roux, A. Todd, Dr. V. Watts and Col. G.M. Bennet who has guided the citrus co-operative movement since its inception.
The export of South African citrus fruit began in 1906 and, except for curtailment caused by World War I, steadily increased, gaining in prosperity until 1928. Despite the depression years when the government had to assist with about 2s. per case, exports continued to rise until 1939, when World War II intervened. Production did not again return to normal until 1950.
:: Distribution of Citrus Cultivation in the Lowveld
Topographically the citrus-growing areas of the Lowveld are rather broken and are drained eastwards by perennial rivers and streams which mostly flow in long and narrow values. Citrus cultivation has spread along these valleys whereever the climate, sufficient water, suitability of soil and proximity to a railway line have encouraged its cultivation.
In the Lowveld citrus-growing is most successful in sandy soils, which is to be expected since the physical properties of a soil are more important for citrus than the chemical properties. The sandy soils of the Lowveld are mostly well-drained, suitable in texture in that they are largely free of clay and sufficiently deep to be satisfactory for the cultivation of citrus. They are slightly acid in reaction, have a sufficiency of boron, iron and copper, but are deficient in magnesium, zinc, manganese and calcium, are very low in available nitrogen and phosphate and are rapidly leached. Fortunately the irrigation water carries little or no salt in solution.
The greatest concentrations of citrus are found in the Crocodile River valley between Rivulets and Krokodilpoort and between Carino and White River, but there are several other areas which have proved very suitable for citrus cultivation.
... more >>
|
|
| ::
Add This
Button |
|
Are you on LowveldInfo?
Then get the code to place this button on your site here
|
|
