552 



Jmij-tud of Af/riculttiit, Victoria. 1 10 Sept., 1917. 



a standard inferior to those exhibited during previous years of heavier 

 crops. 



The habit of the fruit of some varieties is to grow rapidly and to 

 ripen quickly, whereas other varieties pass through a slow process of 

 devc'lopuieiit to maturity. These are known as early and late varieties 

 respectively. The Early Margaret is one of the first to ripen ; it matures 

 from the blossom in about 79 days. The Stunner Pippin is one of the 

 late sorts, and it often takes 227 days to mature, from the time of 

 flowering. Then there are the mid-.season varieties, like the Graven- 

 stein, while others, such as the Jonathan, develop fairly quickly, but 

 retain a hold on the tree until late in the season. 



At the commencement of the 1910-11 fruit season the writer re- 

 quested a number of orehardists in the Evel_^m district, in which per- 

 haps the largest number of varieties of apples grown in Victoria are 

 cultivated, to furnish lists of dates on which their apples were picked 

 that season. The following list of 58 varieties has been compiled from 

 the growers' reports and other data in the possession of the writer. 

 .and shows the dates of full bloom, approximately the dates on which 

 the fruit was picked, and the number of days required for its develop- 

 ment. The dates of picking in the different localities vary somewhat, but 

 those given in the table represen! the ave*-age fcr the whcle district. 



