11 Feb,., 1918.] 



Apjde Culture in Victoria. 



83 



working the land with the cultivators, when in a fit condition, after 

 rain or irrigation. By the use of a heavy roller, the lumps that often 

 appear on the surface of this class of soil, after the spring tooth culti- 

 vators especially, may be reduced to fine earth, which helps to conserve 

 the soil moioture, and the plant food which the lumps contain is made 

 available to the feeding roots of the trees. 



In the British Isles and other cool climates, apples are fairly success- 

 fully grown without soil cultivation, but absolute failure has invariably 

 attended any attempts made here to emulate methods of the Old 

 Country in this regard. The orchard soils there being fairly deep and 

 rich, generally afford free drainage. They retain their moisture well 

 during summer, and are considerably benefited by being annually 

 pulverized to a considerable depth by the action of severe winter frosts. 

 Whereas, to obtain the equivalent and necessary physical alterations 

 of the soil so essential to the growth of trees in this country, we are 

 obliged to resort to intensive cultural operations. 



'0.r.< 



'Jl 



Plate 150. — Modern Orchard Harness. 



Cropping Amongst the Trees. 



It is safe to state that by far the higher percentage of the areas under 

 apple culture in the various centres of the State has been established 

 on virgin soils. It is generally recognised that these soils, to whatever 

 individual classes they may belong, contain higher percentages of the 

 original elements essential to the growth of the trees, and to the regular 

 and plentiful production of fruit during a long series of years, than to soils 

 which have been depleted of those elements mainly through the pro- 

 duction of cereal crops. 



Although much information regarding the undesirable practice of 

 growing cereals among fruit trees has, for many years, been dissemi- 

 nated by the experts, yet, inspection sometimes reveals orchardists who 

 still pursue the practice. 



Plate 151 illustrates a crop of oats growing among four-year-old 

 Emperor Alexander trees. Since it is unquestionably desirable to plant 

 on virgin soil, as was the case in the orchard illustrated, it is obvious that 

 to grow subsequently a fodder crop, oats particularly, among the trees 



