206 Journal of Agriculture, Victoria. [10 Apkil, 1918. 



frequent, it is essential that water lodgment at the roots should be pre- 

 vented by a thorough system of drainage. 



Young water-logged trees, before they die, utilize the invigorating 

 materials stored up from the previous year in producing a small quan- 

 tity of foliage, which, on commencing to wither, gives off an offensive 

 smell, while the bark becomes hard, coriaceous, and assumes a broAvnish- 

 black colour. If the trees be grubbed at this stage, the main roots will 

 usually be found to be apparently healthy, while the smaller roots and 

 feeding points will be decayed. 



Some growers hold that sub-drainage may be obviated by ridging U]) 

 the land somewhat and planting the trees on the ridges. They claim 

 that the trees, owing to their raised positions when so planted, are pro- 

 tected during winter from the water. This method of planting may 

 result in the trees being protected for a time, but when their roots extend 

 into the depressions, no amount of security obtainable under such con- 

 ditions can possibly save these roots from water in, or passing continu- 

 ously over, the lower areas. Then there are others who contend that 

 while excessive water is kept in a state of continual movement no evil 

 effects result from its presence in the soil. 



For the purposes of cultural operations and the conservation of soil 

 moisture during warm weather, it is eminently desirable that the surface 

 equality of the orchard soil should be maintained. A mulch of surface 

 soil conserves moisture better than one of subsoil, which has to be em- 

 ployed in the depressions when the ridging-up principle is adopted. 



The present writer is convinced that excessive water, whether moving 

 or stagnant, injures the tree, and that the latter is the more damaging, 

 particularly in mid-spring, when it assumes the condition of a sour, 

 residual solution. When drainage is assisted by subsoiling, more moisture 

 is conserved during summer; friable, aerated and sweet soil conditions 

 are more easily maintained, and earlier root-penetration of the lower 

 strata is facilitated. 



Statements are occasionally made that, as gums and other native 

 trees make luxuriant growth on land which is neither subsoiled nor 

 cultivated, apple trees should perform likewise. A moment's reflection, 

 however, will convince any person holding such an erroneous idea that 

 the introduced deciduous fruit tree requires more favorable soil condi- 

 tions, and careful cultural treatment, than does the indigenous forest 

 evergreen, and this, experience has amply verified. 



Surface Dkainage. 



On the approach of winter, provision, through the medium of a 

 :system of surface drains, should be made for carrying off the surface 

 water from the orchard during the rainy season. More especially 

 ahould this mode of drainage be practised in orchards where systems 

 ■of underground drains have not been established. The desirability of 

 coping with surface water has become very apparent in recent times 

 as a consequence of the almost regular recurrence of wet winters. 



An orchard consisting of flat land is usually surface drained by a 

 aeries of small drains or plough furrows connected at right angles with 

 a head ditch or drain leading to a lower level, whereas the contours 

 occurring in an orchard composed of undulations are made the basis 

 of surface drainage operations. 



