80 Journal of Agriculture, Victoria. [11 Feb., 1918. 



APPLE CULTURE IN VICTORIA. 



(Continued from page 24.) 



By J . Farrell, Orchard Supervisor . 



Management of Orcharb Soils. 



The amount of cultivation required by orchard lands in order that 

 the highest returns may be obtained from these areas varies' according 

 to the class, of soil and climatic conditions prevailing in the 

 different localities. Generally speaking, two ploughings per year 

 are sufficient to keep most of our orchard soils adequately 

 loose to permit of their being maintained in a satisfactory 

 condition of tilth by the employment of cultivators or harrows 

 during the periods of growth. One ploughing 6 or 8 inches 

 deep, according to the quantity of surface soil, should be given as soon 

 as the first autumn rains have rendered the ground sufficiently damp to 

 enable the work to be satisfactorily executed. On this occasion the 

 soil is drawn towards the trees on both sides so that the furrows formed 

 between the rows and running with the fall of the land may act as 

 channels to carry away the surface water during the following winter. 

 The soil should not be then further broken up, but allowed to remain 

 in its rough fallowed condition and thus facilitate its pulverization, &c., 

 through the various winter weather conditions and influences. When 

 with the coming of the spring this desirable structural alteration of the 

 soil has been achieved and the land assumes an early, dry, and friable 

 condition, due mostly to the perfect working of the surface water 

 channels, supplemented where necessary by a thorough system of sub- 

 drainage, spring cultivation may commence. If friable surface con- 

 ditions exist the land may be ploughed and cultivated, but when the 

 surface is of a rough, hard, or tenacious nature and likely to turn over 

 in lumps it should be worked with disc cultivators or harrowed before 

 being subjected to the spring ploughing. The main object of 

 this operation is to draw the soil away from the trees, and thus create 

 a level surface like that which existed prior to the autumn ploughing. 

 If the soil be of a tenacious character, the depth to which it is ploughed 

 should be slightly altered at each ploughing to prevent the formation 

 of a hard pan beneath the cultivated portion. 



Plate 147 illustrates two oi'chard ploughs of the type mostly em- 

 ployed by our fruit-growers. Fig. 1 shows a single furrow plough 

 suitable for small orchards. The shifting principle of the handles and 

 the adjustable head-rack make it possible to plough the ground right 

 up to the butts of the trees, when ploughing either on or off. Fig. 2, 

 the double-furrow implement, is used in the larger orchard, and it also 

 is fitted with, shifting handles and liead-rack which enable it to plough 

 fairly close up to ihe trees, but tli© siugle-furrov/ is generally used to 

 complete this work. Three-furrow ploughs constructed on the same 

 principle are also obtainable. By the employment of these implements 

 the orchardist is saved the extra expense of hand cultivating the strips 

 around the trees. 



If the orchard be situated in a dry, warm locality, and particularly 

 if the soil be of a porous nature and liable to part freely with its 

 moisture on being ploughed, no time should be lost in bringing the 

 surface to a perfect state of tilth. A fine earth mulch, which prevents the 

 escape of the soil moisture through capillarity, is thus provided. This 



