THE ORCHARD. 



James Lang, Harcourt. 



Up to the present the weather has been unusually dry, retarding 

 ploughing operations and preparation of ground for f urtlier planting ; this 

 work should now be pushed on where practicable, in order to get the land 

 in good condition for planting. 



Planting should be proceeded with as soon as the ground is ready, early 

 planting being at all times advisable. Clear off the surplus suckers from 

 raspberry plantations, leaving not more than six of the strongest canes 

 for fruiting next season. Strawberry beds should also be gone over and 

 cleaned up, and all runners taken away. Further planting of citrus fruits 

 should be left until the spring time when the ground will be warmer. 



A start should be made this month with pruning, commencing with 

 plums and cherries, as these are of the first to drop their leaves. 



The woolly aphis on the apple trees has given a good deal of trouble 

 < luring the past summer, the very wet winter of last year and the cool 

 summer following being the cause. This matter was referred to in the 

 February number of the Journal, and a numljer of letters has been received 

 by the writer asking for further information. The potash mentioned in 

 the recipe is what is known in the trade as American potash ; it is in lumps 

 like pieces of bluestone and requires to be poinded up finely to dissolve 

 readily in water. Caustic soda (Greenbank's 90 per cent.) has been used 

 where the American potash has not been obtainable. The trees should be 

 dressed with the mixture as soon as pruning has been completed, and just 

 before the buds burst, they should be gone over again and any spots of 

 aphis show^ing touched with the brush. If this is follow'ed up two or three 

 times during the summer, aphis will give very little trouble afterwards. 



The present generation of fruitgrowers has very little idea of the havoc 

 and destruction caused amongst apple trees in the early sixties by the 

 ravages of the woolly aphis. At that time it was almost impossible to 

 grow an apple tree free from it, the roots teing more affected than the 

 upper part of the tree. In a year or two the roots rotted off and the 

 tree died ; trees old and young were alike affected, even seedlings in the 

 nursery bed rotted off the first year, and nurserymen were at their wits 

 end to know how to raise young apple trees free from the blight. Such was 

 the state of affairs when the late Mr. Thomas Lang, of Ballarat, introduced 

 the Majetin blight-proof stock. Mr. Lang, who had noticed for some time 

 that the Majetin variety of apple was not affected by the woolly aphis, 

 thought that if the branches of the INIajetin tree were rooted, they would 

 form a stock that other varieties of apples could be grafted upon, and 

 after a number of careful experiments he proved that the roots were immune 

 from the attacks of the aphis. This discovery quite revolutionized the 

 cultivation of the apple, as it was found that when the roots w^ere clean, 

 it was a comparatively easy matter to keep the tops clean. The fruit- 

 growers of Victoria are under a deep debt of gratitude to Mr. Lang for 

 discovering the blight-proof T^tock. 



After a time it was found also that the Northern Spv apple resisted 

 the attacks of the aphis, and it also was used as a stock. This variety was 

 found to possess a quantity of fibrous roots that made it more suitable for 

 a stock than the Majetin. The Spy stock has now entirely superseded the 

 Majetin as a blight-proof stock, being universally regarded by the nursery- 

 men as the best. 



Account sales of the three first shipments of Victorian apples have come 

 to hand showing that the prices realized have been very good, better even 

 than last vear. 



