FRUITS OF QUEESSLAXD. 87 



Summer Scarlet Pearmain, Twenty-ounces, Jonathan, Lord Suffield, Rome 

 Beauty, and Prince Bismarck do remarkably well, and many other well-known 

 kinds can be grown to perfection. 



THE PEACH. 



This king of the temperate fruits grows with us to perfection. The tree 

 is hardy, a rapid grower, comes into bearing early, and is, if anything, inclined 

 to over-bear. It can be grown over a considerable part of our coastal and 

 inland downs, as well as the Stanthorpe district, and thrives in many kinds 

 of soil, from light sandy loams of poor quality to rich loams of medium texture 

 or even heavier. In this State, the peach is always grown on peach roots, 

 the desired variety being either budded or grafted on to a seedling peach, 

 and the resulting tree is planted out when it has made one year's growth. 

 No tree is easier to grow, but if the best returns are desired, it requires very 

 careful pruning for the first three years, after which an annual winter pruning 

 is usually all that is necessary. The young tree is such a strong grower that 

 unless it is heavily cut back it becomes top-heavy and breaks to pieces with 

 the weight of fruit, but when hard cut back for the first two years, so that 

 it has a good main stem and strong primary branches, it will form a strong 

 tree, and stand up well under a heavy crop of fruit. The strong growth it 

 makes necessitates heavy pruning when large fruit is desired and it is large 

 showv fruit which sells best here as were the tree allowed to go unpruned, it 

 would bear enormous numbers of fruit, many of which would be of small size. 

 Growers now realise this, and many of our orchards are well pruned, whereas 

 a few years since the trees were allowed to grow pretty much as they like. 



The peach remains profitable much longer here than it does in California, 

 as the trees do not wear out so quickly, the roots remaining sound up to the 

 last, so that, unless the top is too far gone, the life of the tree may usually be 

 extended for several years by heading hard back and forming an entirely new 

 head to the tree. Trees in full bearing often produce fully 1,000 Ib. weight of 

 fruit in a single season. This is, of course, very much above the average, but 

 i.y n. i means exceptional. When in their third season, they should bear enough 

 to pay for all working expenses. 



A very large number of varieties have been tested in Queensland, most 

 of which do well, but, as in the case of apples, we find from experience that it 

 is best to stick to a few kinds, and those that have proved to be most suitable 

 to our soil and climate, rather than to experiment with a large number of 

 varieties. 



The usual plan is to plant a number of varieties that ripen in succession, 

 as with the apple, so as to spread the season over as long a time as possible, 

 and to stick to kinds that bear well, look well, and ship well, for appearance 

 will usually beat quality, and fetch more money. 



So far, little has been done in the way of utilising the peach, as the 

 demand for the fresh fruit has been equal to our supply. There is, however, 



