Taipei, Jan. 3 (CNA) A wax apple farmer fulfilled his dream of learning to play the piano at middle age. But more amazingly, his musical performances in his orchard has helped the wax apples he grows turn out to be bigger and sweeter, he said Thursday.
Wang Jui-hsiung, who is dubbed as "Wax Apple King" for growing a variety of huge wax apples known as "Black King Kong," has been playing the piano on his farm in Pingtung, southern Taiwan every day since last autumn.
With the music, the fruits produced at the end of last year gained more than 10 grams each, and became sweeter, with the flesh tasting more delicate, Wang claimed in an interview.
There is no scientific evidence to prove what Wang said is true, but the grower seems convinced he has an eager audience to his newfound musical skills in the fruits.
"My dream of being able to play the music came true at the age of 45. At 47, I did something crazy," Wang described his decision to play music for the fruit trees.
Wang said he first learned to play the piano in the seventh grade. To pay for the lessons, he worked at various odd jobs such as carrying bricks or shelling peas. However, he was unable to afford the lessons after three months and this became a regret for him.
Two years ago, his daughter had to stop going to her piano lessons after she fell ill. Knowing he had such a dream, Wang's wife encouraged him to take the lessons in their daughter's place.
Although he was often exhausted from the busy work on his farm, Wang insisted on practicing for at least an hour a day. At first, he could only hit the keyboard with one finger at a time because they were full of calluses.
His music was so awful in the beginning that even his family could not stand it, Wang said. The wax apple trees, however, became his audience too because his practice room was next to the farm.
"Wax apple trees don't have legs, so they had to be my most loyal listeners," Wang said jokingly.
Finally, the farmer learned to play a complete piece of music fluently after six months of practice and another six months later he was able to play various pieces.
Wang said he got the idea of providing musical entertainment to his fruit trees because over the past two years, he often found the wax apples on his farm to have cracked flesh due to climate change.
It occurred to him one day that some Japanese farmers had widely used music in farming or livestock husbandry, Wang said. That inspired him to push his piano into the wax apple farm and begin playing for the fruit trees.
He insists that resulted in a bigger and sweeter harvest, which has helped Wang earn more money. A wax apple that weighs about 200 grams costs up to NT$130 (US$4.50).
Wang plans to organize a recital on his farm to thank his family and friends for their support on his path to fullfilling his dream.
"A dream is always a dream if you don't realize it. It's never too late as long as you make the first move," Wang said.
(By Kuo Chih-hsuan and Kendra Lin)