114 THE GARDEN AND FIELD. 



A RECORD ! 



Poisoning Sparrows. 



AULDANA 

 WINES ■ ■ 



ia eompaiitioB A^rsiui «U 



AUSTRALIA 



at ▲DSLiJDS WINS SHOWS. 



1H4. CHAMPION CUP f«r 



HOCK 



1«06. CHAMPION CUP 



CLARET 



1906. CHAMPION CUP lor 



SHERRY 



FIRST PRIZES 



too aumaroui im aamtion 

 Tow« OtRm : 



Australasia Chambers, 

 King Wm. St., Adelaide. 



TiiMTania aad Callara : 



Maglll, South Australia 



A Tasmanian farmer lias foiund 

 the following system successful in 

 keeping the sparrows down. He 

 uses \-inegar to dissolve the 

 strychnine. The amount of the 

 poison required is T/< ozs. to the 

 Inishel of wheat. He has two clean 

 kerosene tins, with the tops cut 

 out, leaving a selvedge of about a 

 quarter of an inch, which must he 

 hammered down so as to prevent 

 anv catchment. No handles are 

 put in, so the cans cannot be rise d 

 for anything else. Half a can of 

 wheat contains a quarter of a 

 l^ushel. The strychnine to be used 

 wojuld be a quarter of the ozs. 

 for the bn.shel. It should be put 

 into one tin, and the wheat into 

 the other. Half a pint of vinegar 

 .should be boiled in a saucepan, 

 and while hot must be carefully 

 poured on to the strychnine, al- 

 lo\ving it to trickle down the side 

 of the tin, so as to avoid splash- 

 ing. Then gentlv shake the tin 

 backwards and forwards, imtil the 

 crystals are dissolved, ;and~pour on 

 to the wheat in the other tin. 

 Then the ingredients are to be 

 poujred from one tin to the other 

 until all the liquor has been ab- 

 .sorbed. It should then be care- 

 fully dried, placed in a bap", la- 

 belled poison, and hunj^ ud in a 

 draught of air. The bag should be 

 given a shake now and again to 

 prevent mould setting in. 



♦ 



The Plum. 



Regarding usefulness the plum 

 may be ranked as next in import- 

 ance to the apple, as it can be 

 utilised, for a great variety of pur- 

 j)oses — either for cooking, for des- 

 sert, for drying, for preserving, or 

 for preparation in the form of 

 jirunes. The plum will succeed on 

 a wider range of soils than either 

 the apricot or peach. It will grow 

 well on either heavy or light soil, 

 find thrives beside the neach and 

 the apricot, or the apple and the 

 ])ear. But, although the plum 

 stands severe weather, the condi- 

 tions most favourable to its suc- 

 cessful growth are a warm gener- 

 ous soil, which with good, cultiva- 

 sion will retain a moderate 

 amount of moisture, and a temper- 

 ate climate. Under such condi- 

 tions the plum will produce firut 

 rich in saccharine constituents. 

 One of the chief things to Ije con- 

 sidered in planting a plum orchard 

 is the soil, for, though the plum 



August, idlS 



G. A. PREVOST & CO., 



25-27 Steamship Buildings, 

 CURRIE STREET, ADELAIDE. 

 COLONIAL rR:ODUCE EX- 

 PORTERS, 

 on Commission Only. 



Special attention given to the 

 Export of Fruit to English, Ger- 

 man, and other Markets. 

 Woodwool, Apple Wrapping Paper, 

 Apple Cases, Pear Trays — in the 



regulation Export Sizes. 

 Sprays, Manures, and all Orchard- 

 ists' Requisites supplied at Lowest 

 Rates. 



Agent for — 



The Harvey Orchard Ploughs and 

 Cultivators. 



The Nielsen Horsepower Sprayer. 



adapts itself to almost any soil, 

 the stock upon which it grows 

 may not. 



The plum is quite .similar to 

 other fruits in regard to shelter, 

 draining, subsoiling, bastard trench- 

 ing, and preparation of the) surface 

 soil ])rior to planting, with subse- 

 quent cultivation, the latter for 

 the purpose of furnishing food to 

 the plant and the conserving of 

 moisture in the soil during the hot, 

 dry weather of summer, equally 

 applies to the ciilture of the plum ; 

 likewise the operation of planting.- 



In the selection of trees it is 

 best to select yearling, trees. With 

 such the head can be started at 

 any desired height. The trees 

 should be set not less than t8 ft. 

 apart on the square, and 20 ft. is 

 better. After the tree is trans- 

 planted it should be q'lt back to 

 within iSins. from the ground, 

 and during the spring, soon after 

 the buds push into srrowth, select 

 three or four of the best-placed and 

 rub off all others, be'ing careful 

 that thcv do not i.ssueifroui a com- 

 mon point on the trunk. The 

 .shoots produced from the buds so 

 left are cut back about two-thirds 

 during the following winter. The 

 second year each of these branches 

 is allowed to pu.sh out from two 

 t» three shoots. The following 

 mnter— the third season — a -'epeti- 

 tion of the pruning of the previ- 

 ous year is performed. 



At the fourth season's winter 

 pruning shorten in each terminal 

 branch to one-third its original 

 length, and the followine season, 

 should three .shoots be thrown out 

 from the terminal buds on each 

 shoot cut back at the last sea- 



