CHAPTER V 



WHAT TO PLANT 



DRYING VARIETIES. - 



The chief fruits usually grown on the irrigation 

 areas along the Murray are currants, sultanas, 

 apricots, peaches, nectarines, pears, and oranges. 



The Vine. Of all the varieties of fruits grown 

 along the Murray Valley the vine is the most im- 

 portant, both in acreage planted and in the annual 

 value of its crop. Soil, climate, and water have made 

 the Murray Valley an ideal home for the vine. 

 Nowhere else in Australia does the vine come so 

 early into profitable bearing, and nowhere does it 

 bear such consistently heavy crops. 



For this reason every fruitgrower who desires an 

 early return should plant some considerable portion 

 of his land to vines. Vines that have been well 

 cared for should yield atout one ton of dried fruit 

 to the acre in their fourth year, and thereby come 

 into full bearing about three years before any other 

 class of fruit. Regarding currants, as there is 

 already an over-production of the local grown pro- 

 duct it is not advisable to plant much land to this 

 class of fruit until the local, demand has again 

 caught up to the supply. 



As previously stated, the sultana, which is the 

 most extensively grown of all the varieties of vine 

 along the Murray, has also passed the limits of the 

 Commonwealth's consumption, but as there appears 

 a possibility of the Australian article being able to 

 compete with the Mediterranean product on the 



