304 



THE GARDEN AND FIELD. 



December, 191 3 



Cherries Preserved in Brine. 



An industry which has reached 

 important proportions as an Ita- 

 lian export, consists of cherries 

 preserved in the following manner. 

 The}- are first placed in the fumes 

 of sulphur and then packed in 

 casks with very strong brine. The 

 chief place of export is to the 

 United States. On arrival the 

 fruit is sorted out, the best being 

 sold for tba purpose of flavouring 

 some of the various stimulants, 

 which, under different names, form 

 the speciality of American bars, 

 the second best are preserved in 

 brandv in the usual way, and the 

 remainder are used for the general 

 purposes of confectionery., 



♦ 



Peach Brown Rot. 



The following directions are given 

 in Bulletin No. 2 of the Missouri 

 Board of Horticulture : — 



After petals drop, spray with 

 8.8.50 self-boiled Ume-sulphur. 



A month before the fruit ripens, 

 spray with 8.8.50. 



Preparation. . — 81bs. Iresn stone 

 lime and 81bs. of sulphur to 50 

 g'allons of water. 



Place the lime in a barrel, and 

 pour on enough water to al- 

 most cover it. As soon as the 

 lime begins to slake, add the sul- 

 phur, which should first be run 

 through a sieve to break up the 

 lumps. The mixture shotild be con- 

 stantly stirred, and more VN^ater 

 added as needed to form a thick 

 paste at first, and then gradually 

 a thin paste. The lime will sup- 

 ply enough heat to boil the mix- 

 ture several minutes. As soon as 

 it is well slaked water should be 

 added to cool the mixture and pre- 

 vent further cooking. It is then 

 ready to be strained into the spray 

 tank, diluted and applied. 



It is very important, especially 

 with hot lime, to cool the mixture 

 quickly bv adding a few buckets of 

 water as soon as the lumps of 

 lime have slaked down. The in- 

 tense heat, violent boiling, and 

 constant stirring result in a uni- 

 form' mixture of finely divided sul- 

 phur and lime, with only a very 

 small percentage of sulphur in so- 

 lution. 



Mr. W. J. Allen says that when 

 making the lime-sulphur at the 

 N.S.W. Crovemment orchards, they 

 have foimd it necessary to cook 

 the wash much longer than is re- 

 commended. 



Prevention of the Growth 

 of Suckers from Stumps. 



The best way to effect the de- 

 struction of suckers or to prevent 

 their growing is, if the trees are to 

 be ring-barked, to ring-bark in a dif- 

 ferent fashion to the usual me- 

 thod of cutting out a ring of bark 

 and sapwood. Cut straight in for the 

 upper part of the ring, but cut down 

 slantwise at the bottom part, leaving 

 the bark; standing up like a fringe, 

 removing, of course, the detached 

 ring of bark. Then with an oilcan or 

 teapot, pour behind this fringe a small 

 quantity of "Peardoom." Or make a 

 mixture of 1 lb. white arsenic, i% lb. 

 soda crystals, % lb. saltpetre, 1 gallon 

 water, diluted to double the quantity, 

 if iiecessary. This mixture will de- 

 stroy not only the trees but the roots, 

 and consequently no suckers will ap- 

 pear. — Queensland Journal. 



^ 



Age of Apple Trees. 



An interesting note on the lon- 

 gevity of apple trees appears in an 

 English paper, which says : 



The oldest apple tree we know 

 of is the original tree of Bram- 

 lev's Seedling growing in one of 

 the orchards at Southwell, Notts. 

 This, wa believe, is over eighty 

 years of age. It is a grand old 

 veteran, but, as may be expected, 

 showing signs of age in the partial 

 decay of some of its limbs ;; but to 

 all appearance to the contrary its 

 life may be extended to consider- 

 ably oveo: a hundred years. 



We were speaking Qn this subject 

 a few days ago to an old Scottish 

 gardener, who said that about 

 three years ago he revisited the 

 home of his childhood — a garden 

 of which his father took charge in 

 1844, near Glasgow. At that time 

 there were some large Keswick 

 Codlin Apples trees in the garden 

 at least twenty years of age. They 

 were, tba re still, thus making them 

 upwards of eighty years old. 



The first time Ribston Tippin is 

 mientioned is in the catalogue of the) 

 Brompton Park Nur.sery in I7'85. 

 The original tree was raised at 

 Ribston Park, Knaresborough, 

 where it was blown down in 1910. 

 It was afterwards supported by 

 stakes in a horizontal position, and 

 continued to produce som.e fruit 

 until it died in 1835. Soon af tier- 

 wards a sucker from' the roots of 

 the old tree grew uo and formed a 

 tree, which, we believe, is still 

 alive. 



Five Apples a Day. , 



Some imaginative American apple 

 growers have had a dream that if 

 every citizen of that great • and 

 glorious country, and his wife and 

 little ones, ate five apples every day 

 the result would be health and happi- 

 ness for the inhabitants and profits 

 for the growers. Such a diet has 

 been proposed for the salvation of 

 the nation. The physicians might 

 relapse into a lean and hungry state 

 and refuse to eat apples, but when 

 physicians are poor the nation is 

 happy — such is the logic of the in- 

 spired apple growers. With every 

 person on a diet of five apples a day 

 the UniteS States would present a 

 fat and jubilant aspect to all creation. 

 It would become a nation of no 

 disease, no grouches, and few phy- 

 sicians, and all apple growers would 

 be listed with the idle rich. No sug- 

 gestion having as its origin the desire 

 of producers to sell a product ever 

 before had such an altruistic secon- 

 dary motive. 



The dream is alluring, says an ex- 

 change, and it is perhaps useless for 

 an ordinary unimaginative, statistical 

 person to reply that if every person, 

 infants included, were on a five- 

 a-day diet the supply would be ex- 

 hausted in a month. It lures in spite 

 of statistics of production and trans- 

 portation. Its only drawback lurks 

 in the thought that after a month 

 there might be no apple pie, dump- 

 lings and no cider. 



—4 , 



Starlings, sparrows, wattle birds 

 and silver eyes will do much 

 damage to fruit crops, and should 

 be destroyed without remorse. 

 Fruit growers should combine 

 and set apart a day each nesting 

 season for de.stroying as many of 

 these feathered pests as possible, 

 and in a few years their pockets 

 would benefit to a very appreciable 

 extent. Sparrows may be des- 

 troyed at any time by strewing 

 poisoned wheat on any freshly dug 

 plot of ground, provided, of course, 

 that domestic animals are not al- 

 lowed access to it. Sparrows are 

 very cunning, and will not touch 

 seed spread about on undug 

 ground, but with newly turned up 

 ground thev seem to think that 

 fthe seed has been turned up with 

 the soil, and .will eat it greedily. 



