28 Fruitgrowing under Irrigation 



pine rises may be said to be the "safest" of all the 

 river highlands, being practically free from salt. 



Deep Mallee Soils. The mallee lands of the 

 Murray may be conveniently grouped into two 

 classes deep and shallow. The deep soils are 

 often indicated by trees of the largest size having 

 big individual stumps. The land varies from about 

 18 inches to 3 feet in depth, is generally well sup- 

 plied with vegetable mould from decayed and semi- 

 decayed mallee leaves and stumps, and is usually 

 underlaid with a loose, greyish-brown calcareous 

 marl, as are the pine lands. 



The currant, sultana, malaga, doradillo, and prac- 

 tically all varieties of vines luxuriate in this class of 

 land, bear early, and carry heavy crops. Provided 

 the land has an even slope for under-drainage, 

 the orange also does well, and, if anything, grows 

 even faster here than it does on the pine lands. 



Owing to this land having probably more salt in 

 its composition than the pine and needlebush rises, 

 it is "safer" not to plant it with peaches, nectarines, 

 or apricots. 



In the writer's opinion stone fruits have been 

 greatly over-planted in the newly-settled irrigation 

 areas, and to make matters worse a large proportion 

 of the plantings appear to have been made on un- 

 suitable land. The writer's own experience has 

 been that it is useless to attempt to grow stone 

 fruits on mallee soils that are under two feet in 

 depth before the sub-soil is reached, or in situations 

 where the drainage is not perfect. On such lands 

 or position the trees grow well for some years, but 

 are generally overtaken by salt or seepage before 

 they are in full bearing. It is therefore advisable 

 that for the planting of stone fruits mallee soils 

 should be avoided unless the surface soil is of ex- 

 ceptional depth, say, four feet, and is situated on 



