16 Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W. [Jan. 2, 1920. 



Notes on Californian Experience with Apple Mildew. 



Several points in an article in the April number of the Californian pub- 

 lication Better Fruit are of particular intei'est, especially in the light of local 

 experience. 



(1) It is claimed that lime-sulphur haH proved an effective spray in 

 California for the control of mildew in apples. 



This Department, however, has not found lime-sulphur consistently effec- 

 tive in controlling apple powdery mildew, 



(2) Contrary to expectations, powdery milde^v of the apple has established 

 itself in the hot, interior, irrigated districts of California. 



I^^As a few varieties of apples are promising very well in the orchard at 

 Yanco Experiment Farm, and as woolly aphis gives no trouble in that 

 climate, it is quite within the realms of possibility that apple-growing will 

 play a part on the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Areas. Up to the present, 

 powder}- mildew of the apple has not developed in Yanco orchard, but 

 evidently in similar climates in California it gives trouble. Moreover, in 

 our tableland districts mildew often shows as badly in dry seasons as in wet 

 ones, and should apples be planted at all extensively in our inland districts 

 a careful watch should be kept for this disease. 



(3) Though lime-sulphur can be used in the spring spraying in California, 

 it cannot be used during the hot summer months, as when it collects on a 

 fruit which is exposed to direct action of the sun, scalding ensues. 



As up to the present there has been no occasion to use fungicides on 

 apples growing in our inland orchards at Wagga and Yanco, the Department 

 cannot speak from actual experience, but there is no reason to doubt that 

 burning may take place as on citrus fruits in our coastal districts when 

 fully exposed to the sun. — W. J. Allen. 



Agricultural Machinery and Farm Book-keeping. 



With the rapidly extending use of agricultural machinery and other 

 factors which promise to make for economy in the cost of production, profit 

 and loss in particular methods of farming will have to be weighed more 

 carefully, and in the case of expensive equipment, such as farm tractors, 

 which depreciates rapidly, book-keeping is necessary in order that such loss 

 of capital may be disclosed. — Journal of the Foard of AqricuUnre, England. 



Cause of Second Growth in Potatoes. 



Second growth in potatoes is, as a rule, due to rain following on a dry spell; 

 it has for that reason been prevalent in our coastal districts during the last 

 two seasons. Since the defect is a seas.onal one, the only remedy is to change 

 to a variety more suitable to the incidence of the rainfall in the district 

 wh<'re th(r rains, for instance, tend to be late in the growing season, either 

 an early variety that will mature bcforo the rains, or a late variety tiiat 

 will not have matured the tubers till afte the usual rains have fallen, 

 might be tried. Tubers showing second growth should on no account be 

 used for seed, as they are apt to produce plants constitutionally weak. — 

 A. H. E. McDonald, Chief Inspector of Agriculture. 



