■,ii 



THE TKOPICAI AGRICULTURIST. 



lAi-mt i, 1884. 



ation, ftnd 30 acres have been sown with black wattle 

 (Acaria tleciirrens), and are growing very well. A'ld Mr. 

 I"'crgusoii recommeiida the remaining 30 acres to be sown 

 with golden water (Acacia pycuautha), which, he be- 

 lieves, will prove the most remunerative for cultivation. 

 '■ In the nursery department during the past year a great 

 amount of the available labor was employed in talring wp 

 and packing trees for public bodies, water supply, anil 

 State schools in all parts of the colony. From Macedou 

 iSursery during 18S2-S3 upwards of 85,000 trees were dis- 

 tributed gratis to 550 public bodies, State schools .ind Gov- 

 ernment institutions and works; and from the Wimmera 

 Nursery, at Longerenong, 1,145 trees were supplied to shire 

 eouucils and public institutions. This work employed one 

 half of the nursery staff, and sometimes more." The por- 

 tion of the report relating to the iU-chosen Longerenong 

 Nur.sery is not at all unfavourable, and, considering the 

 arid nature of the climate, many Europeans and other trees 

 " have succeeded well," even including the Sycamore. 

 Among those transplanted in that nursery the Oatalpa, which 

 produces very valuable timber, is worthy of every encourage- 

 ment, but we fail to see the use of propagating such things 

 as Laburnums or Amorpha fruticosa. The wattles on the 

 railway reserves are alluded to, and Mr. Ferguson considers 

 they have made rapid growth. 



From the appearance of the wattles along the Geelong 

 li n of railway, it would seem that they are not likely to 

 prove a profitable speculation, as they are m.^king a com- 

 ])aralively poor growth, although the soil, for the most part, 

 is of good quality. We think the variety used is of the 

 wrong kind to yield a profitable return, for though the 

 bark of the GoUhiU AVattle (Acacia pycnantha) is more valu- 

 able than that of the Black Wattle (A. mollisima), thetree 

 is .much slower growing, and requires double the time to 

 yield a given (luautity of bark thau the Black Wattle, 

 which has been known to attain a height of 1-t feet the 

 first ye.ir, whereas those on the railway will require five or 

 six years to rt^ach that height. We are not aware in what 

 manner the ploughing of the ground was performed, we 

 only knowthot it cost an immense amount of money. How- 

 ever that may be, it has certainly not been properly treated 

 since, so that the wattles have not had a fair chance. The 

 seed ought to have been sown in rows rather thickly, so that 

 the ground might have been ploughed once a year so long as 

 . requisite to loosen it and keep the weeds down ; these 

 would have acted as manure, the roots would have had a 

 better run, the trees would have drawn each other up, and 

 less pruning would have been required. Tlien the plants 

 could have been gradually thinned out as they attained 

 sufficient .size for barking. There is another obstacle to the 

 well doing of wattles on such a situation ; they are soci- 

 able trees, thriving best iu company, and therefore suc- 

 ceed better in a large group than in a narrow strip ; Ihey 

 also love shelter, but here they are exposed to winds both 

 cold and cutting. So that, taking all circumstances iuto ac- 

 count, the probability is that the money expended will 

 never be returned. — Leader. 



OKOHAKD AND OTHER INSECT PESTS. ■ 

 (From the Qneenslander.) 

 Of thom.any difBcuUies which cultivators of the .soil have to 

 Contend agamst iu this colony the attacks of aphis and other 

 parasitic forms are by no means the least ; yet, as has been 

 pointed out repeatedly, those who suffer most and who 

 eompl.aiu most loudly have to a Large extent the remedy in 

 iheir own bauds if they would avail themselves of it. 

 These troublesome pests are more numerous here than in the 

 southern rolonii's, probably because uur climate offers 

 special encouragcnuMit to their propagation. The disgusting 

 giub which so frequently lies concealed iu, and t\u-ns one 

 with aversion from, our best peaches has been known in 

 KOQie parts of Neiv South Wales for mauy years, but it is 

 limited to a comparatively small area, while here it is so well 

 acclimatized that it does not confine its depredations to 

 peaches only, but directs them against many other kinds of 

 fruit, including apricots, plums, gnavas, bananas, mangoes, 

 and even the less pungent kinds of capsicums. It may not 

 be possible to get rid of such nuisances as this absolutely, 

 but they may be kept within reasonable bounds if the 

 fr.iits which are affected, and which easily fall to the groimd, 

 are destroyed at once by being given to pigs for food, or 



disposed of in such other manner as to kill the grubs before 

 they advance to a more developed stage of existence. When 

 they are permitted to lie and rot on the ground they soon 

 arrive at maturity, and increase in number to an enormous 

 extent. From those places where such precautions are not 

 taken they soon extend their ravages to orchards in the 

 vicinity that are properly attended to, and thus the thrifty 

 man is often made to suffer through the supineness of 

 his negligent neighbour. Tliere are many kinds of parasites' 

 the attacks of which become more or less active accord- 

 ing to the resisting power of the object attacked, and that 

 power is increased or diminished in i)roportion to its healthy 

 or unhealthy condition. The aphides which sometimes 

 swarm on a patch of cabbages which have been left to struggle 

 against poor hard soil and dry weather would probably 

 never have appeared had the ground been well tended and 

 the plants kept in a healthy condition by a supply of some 

 fertilizing material and sufficient moisture. For want of 

 this attention they become unhealthy and lose the power to 

 resist the insects, which then multiply rapidly. When black 

 blight or scale appears on fruit trees it invariably indicates 

 an unhealthy state of the tree. The orange, amongst others, 

 is pecuUarly subject to these attacks, and this is perhaps 

 about the worst treated of all our fruit trees. It is generally 

 knowu that those roots of the orange from which it derives 

 its chief sustenance keep near the surface of the soil ; indeed 

 the tree depends largely upon superficial noiirishment ; yet 

 it is quite a common practice to carefully dig up the earth 

 immediately round the stem, and by this means thousands 

 of fibrous roots are ilestroyed, and the tree is perceptibly 

 weakened, and thus olfcrs greater facilities to the attacks of 

 parasites. It is a comniou practice, too, when planting out 

 oranges to cut off the taproot, aud to place a large slab of stone 

 beneath the plant to prevent a substituted root^ from 

 piercing the ground to too great a depth. This is done 

 under a very proper impression that when the taproot gets 

 into the clay subsoil the tree will begin to go off ; but a 

 wiser precaution, aud one which Nature herself points out, 

 is to select soil of such depth that this main support of 

 the tree will be able to penetrate downwards as far as it 

 requires. The taproot is there for a good purpose, other- 

 wise it would not have such strength, and although the 

 practice referred to ni.ay be tolerated to a certain extent iu 

 some places its general adoption is inexcusable, ai>l can be of 

 no service to the tree itself: for where the c^'&y is near 

 the surface orange trees cannot succeed, but will soon prove 

 themselves nurseries for the propagation of those diseases 

 which every gardener should endeavour to eracUcate, and 

 the result will be loss and disappointment. Deep drift soil, 

 the sand in which always retains a certain amount of 

 moisture, is perhaps the best adapted for orange-growing ; 

 the surface within some feet of the stem should only be 

 disturbed with the r.ake, and fertilizers should be applied 

 on the sm-face. It is where these precautions are neglected 

 that the plants become diseased most readily, and wither- 

 ing branches, scale, and black blight soon snpply evidences 

 of decay iu hundreds of young trees in spite of every means 

 which may be used to check them. Nor are the attacks 

 of parasites less common where animals are concerned. 

 The power which renewed health gives animals to overcome 

 these attacks is familiar enough to drovers and bushmen, 

 whoso cattle and horses are sometimes in hard seasons 

 reduced to extreme poverty and become literally infested 

 with vermin. In such swarms do these pests exist that it 

 would .seem almost impossible for any animal to free itself 

 from them without assistance, but when it gets on to good 

 pasture and regains eonditi(Ui the dark patches of vermin 

 begin to decrease, and in a few weeks will have completely 

 disappeared. l!y the substitution of hardier, because 

 healthier, kinds of cane the plantations have beeu freed 

 from rust, which at one time threatened them with de- 

 struction. In the wheat-fields, too, a stronger kiud is being 

 introduced in place of those which were constantly cutoff 

 by rust; aud it will probably be discovered in course of 

 ,,^ime that the conditions under which these plants have 

 TJeen treated for mauy years have made them more delicate, 

 and therefore more susceptible to disease, as is the case 

 with animals which have for a long time been nidiscrimiu- 

 ately inbred. The information which has hitherto been 

 Saine<l in connection with this subject is yet far from 

 perfect, but it seems certain that one law operates in al 

 cases, whether plants or auimals are concerned. All ar 



