The Principles of Fruit-growing

1904

Truby King Collection SB 354.5 B416 1904

New York: The Macmillan Company

When Truby King started work at the Seacliff Lunatic Asylum in 1889, he set about transforming the bushland into vegetable plots and arable farm land. King felt that the right nutrition was essential for good mental health and also wanted to grow fruit and vegetables to keep the running costs of the Asylum low. Lloyd Chapman, in his In a Strange Garden (2003), describes King’s approach to farming as ‘holistic’. This volume by the musically named American horticulturist, Liberty Hyde Bailey (1858-1954), would have been useful as a guide for growing fruit at Seacliff, situated as it was very near the windy south coast. It looks as though King agreed with Bailey’s advice on building wind-breaks for crops – each diagram here has a tick apiece!