142 PIOTOBIAL PRAOTIGAL FBUIT QBOWINO. 



falls, tecause the point of attachment of the stalk changes its character, 

 Therefore, this condition of the stalk is a good guide to the grower. If, on 

 raising the fruit in such a way as to bring a iirm yet gentle pressure to bear 

 on the point of attachment, the end of the stalk parts from the spur, the 

 fruit is ready to gather. If the slightest tug or twist is required it is not 

 ready. This rule may be acted upon with all fruit until October. At that 

 period doubts may arise. There will be late varieties of Pears, for example, 

 that are quite hard and obviously unripe. Yet if left on the trees they 

 would probably be in.iured by frost, and certainly they would not ripen there. 

 Even in these cases it will usually be found that the fruit leaves the tree 

 with only a gentle pressure on the end of the stalk. The rest is a question of 

 storage. The Pears may shrivel or they may mature, according to their treat- 

 ment, for which see pages 136-7-8. Large quantities of fruit fail to keep 

 well on account of rough handling between tree and store. A bruise means 

 decay, and one bad fruit may contaminate many good ones. Gathering 

 is usually done with the hands direct, and there is no real excuse for bruis- 

 ing ; it is only a question of putting the fruit into the basket instead of 

 throwing it in. Various contrivances are brought into play to facilitate 

 gathering fruit, particularly in the case of rather high trees. Unfortunately 

 these sometimes take the shape of a hooked stick or something equally crude, 

 which is only capable of dragging the fruit off. Gathering ought to mean 

 rather more than this. A pouch formed of a piece of netting mounted on 

 a rod (page 141) answers very well, but where access to the fruit can 

 be got the hands should be employed. 



A Useful Table. — It will be of advantage to give a simple rule by 

 means of which the number of trees to plant a particular area of ground 

 can be easily found. There are 4.S,5C0 square feet in an acre, and therefore 

 it is only necessary to divide this figure by the distance apart which the 

 plants are to stand in order to arrive at the number required. If, for 

 instance, the grower were going to plant bush Apples 8 by 8 feet, he 

 would simply multiply 8 by 8, giving 64, and divide 43,500 by this product, 

 giving 680, which is approximately the number of trees he would want. I 

 append a table of distance worked out to suit most fruits : — 



Fi'ct. Plants. Suiting 



10,890 1„, , . 



7 260 f ''"■^wberries. 



2'722 1 ^'^'^'^^''*^ ^""^ '^°''^^^®'^™^* 

 10,890 Raspberries. 



_„. ! Bush Apples and Pears. 



303 \ Half-standard Apples, 



193) Pears, and Plums. 



75^ 



.j.g I Standard Apples, Pears, 



33 f and Plums. 



(^Fur methods of planting ill diamonds and squares see pages 143 and 144.) 



Cost of Trees. — In planting fruit on a somewhat extensive scale the 



cost of the trees is a considerable item. Growers keep it down in various 



ways, perhaps the commonest being to attend auction sales and " pick up 



bargains." That these are often very bad ones is well known to all who 



(^CoMiniied on page 146.) 



