197 
grows wild without care or culture. The jam factories are, however, 
already increasing their output of it, and E it worth while for 
ple to undertake its production as a petite cu 
* With the last days of June and the first of. Ju aij come in the whole 
tribe of citrus fruits, orange, lemon, naartje or tangerine, and pample- 
mousse. From the variations of climate and altitude which have been 
signalised at the beginning of this article, it follows that these fru 
hold their place on the market continuously till December, their peculiar 
them comparatively easy of transport from long distances. The locally 
grown fruit is perhaps at its best in October, —that is to say, it can then 
be picked and marketed perfectly Tipe vut of gathering. it green and 
trusting it to slow ripening in the store-room. Perhaps in of no 
mit more than these has the dE A mind (SEL Em harshly awakened 
the necessity of improvement, and discarding the wretched seedling 
cabbie full of pips and cased in the thickest of skins, which has for 
many years encumbered our markets. The importations of poor grafted 
trees of the best sorts have been very numerous; and if the cultural 
conscience can only be aroused to the necessity of a Praa pie 
against the scale- insects, which up till now have had it all their own way,. 
and also the necessity of giving orchard trees something like fair play 
u 
fruit-growing. ‘The great desideratum is that the spirited proprietor 
shall himself grow the oranges, instead of leaving them to row them- 
selves. At present our largest supply, in Cape Town at least, comes 
from Natal, and it is not par ticularly uut The best Cape grown 
oranges are from the district of Clanwilliam. 
‘‘ October brings with it the Japanese now another fruit which calls 
for selective improvement. There is as yet far too much pip and too 
£ : 
things. These should certainly be increased by grafting, as far as 
possible, instead of reverting to the chance seedling mode of getting 
new trees. 
* With November come in the earlier figs and the strawberry. "There. 
is a future for the fig, and its selected Cape home and centre of drying 
for a uw purposes will p be somewhere in the Karoo. It 
is true that we have not, native, any inseets similar to the Me fein 
which inicia in the per fecting of the celebrated Smyrna fig. But int 
days of quick steam communication it is not impossible to introduce this 
useful insect, just as we have successfully acclimati-ed the Vedalia. As to 
Siehe te the selection of sorts, grown chiefly at Stellenbosch, is very 
limited, and ‘modes of culture anything but modern. Asa rule, the beds 
re "Rma to continue production for far too many oe and the 
fruit consequently deteriorates, losing both size and succulenee. New 
blood and new ideas, with the habit of modern practice in strawberry- 
growing, as it is done in Kent and Surrey for the great London markets, 
is very mush wanted at the Cape. The demand for the frnit is. 
practically unlimited. The month closes with the early riesce aud 
this de icious fruit queens it right through. December. If 0 ur growers. 
would only learn the first principles of pruning this far too Based 
growins r fruit tree, keep its bountiful nature well under control, and 
thin its bearing to something like one-half, then truly would the Cape 
have such apricots as no other place in the world could show 
r reads this little resumé, and begins to turn over in his mind 
dis idea of ciii out to the Cape to utilise there his practical knowledge 
