32 BITTER PIT INVESTIGATION. 



IX. OLD APPLE AND PEAR TREES IN THEIR RELATION TO 



BITTER PIT. 



Although the view that senile decay is the cause of Bitter Pit, is no longer seriously entertained, 

 there is still an interest attaching to very old and generally neglected trees in relation to Bitter Pit. 

 In very old apple and pear trees it is instructive to note their behaviour towards this disease. 



TASMANIA. 



While visiting the experimental plots on the Tamar in February, 1915, I also examined a very 

 old apple tree at York Town (Figs. 16, 17). York Town, at the head of Western Arm, and about 

 five miles from Beaconsfield, was founded in 1804, by Lieut. -Governor Paterson, who intended to 

 make it the capital of Northern Tasmania. But by 1806 the site was found so unsuitable that Paterson 

 moved his headquarters to the present site of Launceston. The following reference to the old apple 

 tree at York Town is made in Ernest Whitfeld's " The River Tamar," reprinted from the Launceston 

 Examiner of 1912: " All that now remains of this settlement is a now ancient apple tree. It still 

 bears fruit, some of which occasionally finds its way to the city, where it is exhibited in the windows 

 as a curiosity." And again : " One apple tree still remains and bears fruit, in spite of many years of 

 neglect." 



The antiquity of the tree is undoubted, and I have verified this from various records. In 

 West's " History of Tasmania" (1852) reference is made to Colonel Paterson, who had gained con- 

 siderable reputation as a botanist, and it is there stated : " He planted trees ; some are still growing 

 amidst the desolation of York Town." The tree was cut back in 1907 by order of the Government 

 Inspector, on account of the fruit being very subject to Codlin Moth, and grafted with a variety which 

 only bore one apple this season. It had Codlin Moth, but no Pit, and the name of the variety was 

 determined to be English Codlin or Kentish Codlin. 



Fig. 17 shows it in 1904 before being cut back, and Fig. 16 as it appeared in February, 1915. 

 The trunk was 38 inches in circumference, and the stump to the left was decayed in the centre and 

 filled with cement to strengthen it. The bark on the older portion was cracking and peeling off all 

 over, while the young wood was badly infested with Woolly Aphis. The tree was in full leaf with an 

 abundance of healthy foliage. This is probably the oldest apple tree in Australia, and is now 110 

 years old, a living memento of the first of those apple trees grown on the Tamar, the banks of which 

 are now studded with nourishing orchards. 



In the City Park, Launceston, there is an old Jargonelle pear tree, shown in full bloom in Fig. 13. 

 It produced this season about a dozen bushels of fruit, and the pears I examined and tasted were all 

 healthy and well flavoured. I have made careful enquiries as to the age of this tree, and am indebted 

 for information to Mr. John Gunning, of the Daily Telegraph, Launceston, and Mr. McGowan, Curator 

 of the Gardens. It was planted about 1832, when a number of fruit trees were received at Launceston 

 from the Royal Horticultural Society of England, so that it is now over 80 years of age. Trees of 

 this variety often live 200 years in England. 



NEW SOUTH WALES. 



The old apple and pear trees planted at " Brucedale," Bathurst, in 1824, and referred to in 

 Report II., are still vigorous and bearing. They are now over 90 years of age (Figs. 18, 19, 20). 



With reference to the apple trees, Mr. Herbert C. Suttor, of " Brucedale," writes under date 

 28th February, 1915 : " The Stone Pippin apple trees are still alive and bearing. They had a big 

 crop on this year, but the winds and hot weather have put most of the fruit off. I have never known 

 the fruit pitted, nor anything the matter with it except Codlin Moth. 



The Jargonelle and Windsor pear trees planted at the same time bear heavy crops each year, 

 and the latter is sometimes badly affected with " Black Spot." 



