AMONG THE ORCHARDS THE ABUNDANT YIELD IN RELATION TO PIT. 9 



of age, which is bad with Pit every season. For comparison this variety was grafted on to Northern 

 Spy roots in September, 1913, and in January, 1915, it bore four apples, all of which were badly pitted 

 (see Report IV., Fig. 27). During the past season it made good growth and bore 18 apples, all of 

 which were pitted on the tree. 



A cluster of Crab Fairy apples is shown in Figs. 9 and 10, taken from a tree about 22 years old, 

 on Northern Spy stock. Both pitted and crinkled apples occur in the same cluster, but the main 

 object of the illustration is to show the unusual feature of six apples blended into one continuous mass, 

 with a distinct "eye" representing each. It is not at all unusual to find a twin apple, as in Jonathan 

 (Fig. 11), but it is certainly unique to have six of them run together into one (Fig. 10). 



In extreme cases of pitting, such as that of Lord Suffield, the orchardist seems justified in cutting 

 back such trees, in order to re-graft them with some other variety less liable to the disease. But in 

 the Deepdene orchard, where the Cleopatra trees were being thus treated, on account of their being 

 so badly pitted as to be valueless, I was able to prove experimentally that even such hopelessly pitted 

 trees, could produce a marketable crop, when a particular system of pruning was adopted. The 

 orchardist is therefore recommended to give this system of pruning a fair trial, and if the commercial 

 results are not profitable, then he can re-work his trees, that is, graft another variety on the old stock. 



THE AGE OF THE TREE IN RELATION TO PIT. 



When a Pit-liable tree is young and vigorous and making rapid growth, it is generally agreed that 

 at that stage it is very subject to pitting, and the first few crops are often very bad. The conditions 

 are such as to favour rapid transpiration, and the excessive growth will tend to interfere with the 

 regular development of the vascular network. It might seem, however, at first sight, as if the young 

 and vigorous tree which transpires freely would be less subject to Pit than the older tree, which is 

 more slow and steady in growth and transpires relatively less. The greater transpiration of the younger 

 tree might be supposed to lower the water pressure and thereby prevent the development of Pit. 



On the other hand, the relatively fewer fruits of the younger trees would be more liberally 

 supplied with water, and the rank and rapid growth would encourage those conditions which favour 

 Pit. It is the rapidity of growth of the fruit at certain seasons which renders possible the influx of 

 water from the root, being greater than that given off in the form of watery vapour at the surface of 

 the fruit. Hence the rapidly growing fruit in young and vigorous trees is liable to have the balance 

 disturbed between the incoming and outgoing water, so that the expanding pulp-cells, in the outer 

 layer to begin with, become over-gorged and over-pressure results. The nutritive network between 

 the pulp and the skin becomes ruptured and the adjoining pulp-cells collapse. 



CLEOPATRA AT BURNLEY GARDENS. 



At the initiation of this investigation wherever fruit-bearing Cleopatra trees were available they 

 were invariably used for experimental purposes, because the fruit was particularly susceptible to Bitter 

 Pit ; and it was at the same time a valuable export apple. It is recognized as one of the worst 

 affected in each of the six States of the Commonwealth (see Report I., p. 31), and in Western Australia 

 it is regarded as the most liable of all the varieties grown. 



Although such a well-known and widely grown apple, the origin of the name has never been 

 distinctly traced, and even the Pomological Committee of Australia, at their last meeting in April, 

 1916, had to acknowledge that "The committee have been unable to ascertain the source of the name 

 Cleopatra." 



There is. a tree growing in the Burnley Gardens under the name of Ortley, imported from America, 

 and it is undoubtedly the same as Cleopatra, but how the latter name came to be introduced is the 

 point at issue. 



With the assistance of Mr. C. T. Cole, an officer of the Agricultural Department, I have been able 

 to trace the name as far back as May, 1869, when his late father, Mr. J. C. Cole, of Richmond, 

 recorded it in his Catalogue of Fruit Trees. It fruited in 1871, when it was found to be identical 

 with Ortley. It appears in Mr. Cole's catalogue of fruits for 1872 as available for planting. 



