34 



BITTER PIT INVESTIGATION. 



Beurre, Josephine de Malines, Marie Louise, Williams, and Winter Nelis. Bitter Pit does not usually 

 occur to any great extent in pears. 



It is very rare in the quince-, and an illustration is given in Figs. 14 and 15. 



LARGE APPLES. 



I had a number of very large apples sent from Tasmania in April, belonging to different 

 varieties, which are known to be subject to Bitter Pit, viz., Gloria Mundi, Alfriston, Peasgood Non- 

 such, Prince Alfred and Lord Wolseley (Fig. 29). 



The heaviest belonged to the Gloria Mundi variety, and weighed 1 Ib. 10J ozs., while it measured 

 5 inches in diameter. The five apples in Fig. 30, belong to the Gloria Mundi and Alfriston varieties, 

 weighing individually from 1 Ib. 9 ozs. to 1 Ib. 10 ozs. The seventeen apples shown in Fig. 29 com- 

 prise Gloria Mundi, Peasgood Nonsuch, Prince Alfred and Lord Wolseley, and weigh on an average 

 1 Ib. 2 ozs. 



The Gloria Mundi was pitted slightly, while Alfriston was very bad. Owing to the severe 

 drought, this was not the most favourable season for producing large fruit, and the Gloria Mundi 

 variety has been larger and heavier on previous occasions. The tree is 14 years old, and yielded 

 five bushel cases of fruit, of which about 20 per cent, were pitted. 



RAINFALL. 



The monthly rainfall is here recorded for the past year, and for the first three months of the 

 present year at the principal stations where experiments were conducted. Owing to the exceptional 

 character of the season, it is considered more convenient to give the figures all together for comparison 

 instead of recording them separately under their respective headings, as was previously done. This 

 arrangement will show what a wide variation in the amount of rainfall occurred at the different 

 stations during the 15 months covered by this return, ranging from 12J inches at Harcourt, Victoria, 

 to 32 inches at Stanthorpe, Queensland. A few general remarks on the nature of the season will 

 be given in connection with each of the principal experiments. 



I am indebted to Mr. H. A. Hunt, Commonwealth Meteorologist, for kindly supplying the 

 necessary information, and a summary of the weather conditions during the fruit season is given 

 in Appendix I. 



MONTHLY RAINFALL, 1914-15. 



