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peaches, where a year is lost. Please well understand what we 

 mean by no time being lost. We mean that the planter of the 

 orchard will get a crop from the worked-over trees as soon as 

 from the rest of his orchard. In older trees, of course, more time 

 will be lost, but seldom more than two years. Thus can be seen 

 the importance of utilising the unsatisfactory bearers instead of 

 grubbing them out. 



There is another class of tree which comes under this head: 

 this is when the root is totally unadapted for the soil; it is a 

 simple matter to tell this at a glance as the tree from the time 

 of planting has an unhappy and uncomfortable appearance. 

 When the planter has made up his mind that a mistake really has 

 been made, the only thing to do is to dig them out and throw 

 the trees away at once, and re-plant the holes with another sort 

 which is growing satisfactorily. 



ORCHARD IRRIGATION. 



The use and abuse of water is one of the chief factors in 

 orcharding in South Africa. We get so many inquiries on this 

 point that we think it may interest planters to have our views at 

 some length. No hard or fast rule about irrigation of fruit trees 

 can be laid down, the only circumstances under which such a rule 

 would be sound policy would be if one had an orchard with the 

 same character of soil throughout and the annual rainfall and 

 temperature exactly alike, year in year out. This favoured spot 

 we have not yet located ; when found it can be irrigated alike 

 each year. The African grower is faced with a different pro- 

 blem, not only in each district, but often in the same orchard, 

 therefore we think a few remarks as to sound principles of irri- 

 gation will be useful. 



A tree needs enough water to keep itself in a thoroughly 

 healthy state and to ripen its fruit ; if it does not receive this it 

 suffers, and if the tree suffers the fruit either falls or is imperfect 

 of its kind, and in either instance there is no money in it. 



There are undoubtedly many places in the Eastern and 

 Western Provinces where fruit can be grown without irrigation. 

 The main points to be taken into consideration are the depth and 

 character of the soil, the style of the sub-soil, and the position 

 of the orchard. 



Too much water is always more serious than too little ; it 

 chills the soil, tends to render it infertile, washes out the ferti- 

 liser, bringing the alkaline salts (if any) near the surface by 

 evaporation until in time it renders the soil worthless. It also 



