EXPERIMENTS CONDUCTED WITH A VIEW TO CONTROLLING DISEASE. 45 



TABLE XXV. continued. 

 5. PRUNED EVERY W T INTER AND SUMMER PRUNED. (TREES PLANTED AUGUST, 1909.) 



Tree No. Variety. Total Yield. Pitted. Per cent. Pitted. 



Ibs. Ibs. 



1 . . Rome Beauty ..],, , i , 



2 . . ,, . . J 



3 Dunn's Favourite 



136 



4 .. .. J 



5 Cleopatra ^ __ __ - _ __ g-1 



7 . . Jonathan . . . . \ QQ1 1 , 



tjf . . . . B 



6. PRUNED FOR THREE YEARS, THEN EVERY SECOND WINTER ONLY. 

 (TREES PLANTED AUGUST, 1909.) 



1 .. Rome Beauty ! 903 -i 



a 46-[ . . . . VF 



^ . . ,, . . . . j i 



3 . . Dunn's Favourite 



4 



5 .. Cleopatra .. ..]_ f? 91 93 .. 



6| ati^jft . . . . *^T ' ' ' * 



,, . . . . J 



7 . . Jonathan . . . . ] , nQ 



8 .. ..J 



PRUNING OF LONDON PIPPIN AND ROME BEAUTY AT RINGWOOD. 



An orchardist at Ringwood had a row of London Pippins about ten years old, which were pruned 

 very heavily in 1914. They were cut well back in order to encourage fruiting, and the result was that 

 the trees yielded, on an average, 2| bushel cases. About 90 per cent., however, were affected with 

 "crinkle," and the fruit as a whole was unmarketable. 



In 1915 he adopted a system of very light pruning in order to test its effect on the yield and the 

 amount of Pit. Fig. 42 gives a representation of one of the trees towards the end of April and when 

 ready for picking. There was a very good crop for the size of the tree, which was about 14 feet high. 

 The yield was 6 bushel cases picked off the tree, and 2| cases of windfalls. The fruit was of average 

 size and marketable, and only eight apples were found pitted, weighing 26 ounces. 



The treatment of the trees was similar in both seasons. A light dressing of stable manure was 

 given, then sprayed with Red Oil for the Woolly Aphis, with Bordeaux Mixture for Black Spot, and 

 two sprayings with arsenate of lead in October and December respectively for Codlin Moth. 



The remarkable freedom from Pit or "crinkle" might be attributed to the nature of the season, 

 but there were other varieties growing near which had been heavily pruned, such as Lord Wolseley 

 (Fig. 44), and so badly pitted that only about 5 per cent, were clean. The photograph will convey 

 some idea of the wholesale pitting of the fruit on this tree. 



In the same orchard a Rome Beauty is shown (Fig. 43), which had been very lightly pruned for 

 two seasons. In 1914 the leaders were simply topped, and the tree made good growth, but produced 

 no fruit (see Report IV., Fig. 49). In 1915 the same system was followed, and the yield was three bushels 

 off the tree and one bushel of windfalls, with only an occasional apple pitted. 



PRUNING OF GANSEL'S BERGAMOT PEAR TREE AT BENDIGO. 



The pear tree shown in Fig. 45 is nine years old. The heavy crop of nine bushel cases is seen 

 to be produced on the laterals, and the efficacy of light pruning is illustrated. 



At first this tree was heavily pruned and failed to produce a payable crop. Then the orchardist 

 altered his method of pruning. For the last four years none of the laterals have been pruned, with 

 the result that the tree has borne an abundant crop every year. 





