49 



is no manuring at planting, that if a dry 

 season follows the planting it is advisable 

 to mulch around the young trees with 

 stable manure to help retain moisture; 

 also that apple trees carrying a heavy 

 crop of fruit are undoubtedly benefited 

 by a mulch of stable manure on the sur- 

 face of the ground over their roots, for 

 small trees, say half a bushel of well- 

 rotted stable manure to a tree. The 

 Americans consider a dressing of nitrate 

 of soda good for old trees as a revivifier. 



Very useful experiments were carried 

 on till the war at Hadlow, near Tonbridge, 

 to see the effect of various manures on 

 vegetables and fruits. 



The general conclusion with apples was 

 in favour of a light dressing of dung, sup- 

 plemented by artificial manures supplying 

 nitrogen, phosphate and potash. Where 

 dung is given the importance of the addi- 

 tional potash is not so great, but on plots 

 manured with artificials only, where pot- 

 ash was omitted, the difference was very 

 marked, as the growth of these trees was 

 less, and the leaves showed an appearance 

 of being scorched round the edges, and 

 the fruit was smaller in size. The addi- 

 tion of potash is by some people thought 

 to improve the colour of the apple. 



" Silver Leaf " is a serious disease 

 among apples. I once saw an acre or more 

 of re-grafted apples thus affected, at 

 Crockenhill, in Kent. As regards the treat- 

 ment of " Silver Leaf " in apples, the late 

 Mr. Arthur Miskin showed me six trees 

 that had suffered with "Silver Leaf"; 

 during the following winter he had top- 

 dressed each of these trees with about 6lbs. 

 of sulphate of iron. The following year 

 five of the trees were healthy with 

 vigorous dark green foliage, the sixth was 

 so far uncontrolled, and was to be top- 

 dressed again. 



On some farms water is laid on by pipes 

 to orchards, either under the ground or 

 temporarily by 2 inch pipes : in one case 

 it was thus conveyed for half a mile from 

 the buildings. Here in an exceptionally 

 dry summer I saw men with 60 feet hose 

 pipes, terminated by a rose, watering the 

 ground under the trees, which thereby 

 swelled the fruit. 



Pipes are used for spraying hop and 

 fruit plantations. 



On many farms in Kent and Worcester- 



shire the water is obtained from streams, 

 reservoirs, wells, etc. ; the spray is made 

 and pumped through the pipes by an oil 

 engine. 



Yield Per Acre. 



In 1908 under the Census of Production 

 Act, the Board of Agriculture collected 

 statistics, and estimated the average yield 

 per acre in Britain as 26 cwts. for apples; 

 19 cwts. for pears; 15 cwts. for cherries; 

 46 cwts. for plums; 29 cwts. for straw- 

 berries ; 22 cwts. for raspberries ; and 21 

 cwts. for gooseberries. These appear 

 small in case of the apple. 



Sir Charles Whitehead, in an interesting 

 article on " British Orchards," in the 

 Eoyal Agricultural Society's Journal, 

 said : — " As many as 500 bushels of apples 

 per acre have been grown in plantations 

 where the trees were in their prime. Tak- 

 ing an average of seven years of the 

 average apple-growing land in the country, 

 the crop per acre per annum would be 

 about 130 bushels." 



There is a tendency in many varieties of 

 apples (Blenheim, Newton, Bramley) to 

 crop well one year and rest the following 

 year. In 1919, 200 fifteen year old Bram- 

 leys yielded 2,500 bushels on Westerfield 

 Farm, Linton, near Maidstone. 



Apple Yields in Other Lands. 



It is of interest to hear what other coun- 

 tries can do in fruit growing in the 

 " Field," of July 19th, 1919. Arthur 

 Garnett, of Tasmania, wrote : "I should 

 like some information as to high apple 

 yields in England. Here is an authentic 

 example of what must be about the best 

 Tasmania can do. This season (1918-19), 

 11,000 bushels have been picked from a 

 10-acre orchard in the Huon district, parts 

 of it being estimated to yield 2,000 bushels 

 per acre. My purpose, however, is not to 

 induce people with an itch to get rich quick 

 to rush hither. I have quoted a yield of 

 over 1,000 bushels per acre, but crops 

 range from that down to practically nil ; 

 200 bushels per acre is reckoned a good 

 crop, and official returns of all bearing 

 apple orchards give an average yield of 

 73i bushels per acre for the season 1916-17. 

 I doubt such a yield being profitable." 



Turning to a little pamphlet " Fruit 

 growing in New Zealand," issued by the 

 Education Department of the New Zea- 



D 



