January, 1914 



THE GARDEN AND FIELD. 



351 



Prttit Oardeiv 



Picking and Packing. 



Fruit that is intended for ship- 

 pin<T or keepinpf should not be al- 

 lowed to suffer the slisjj'htest bruis- 

 ing. Therefore, never shape fruit 

 off the tree, and even when picking; 

 never toss them into the basket or 

 case, but handle as f^ntly as you 

 would an eprs- When harvesting 

 the crop ins st on vour pickers 

 wiearinjf cotton gloves. Thev only 

 cost a few pence, but the amount 

 of fruit that is ultimatelv saved 

 bv preventing the d?leterious mois- 

 ture on the hands comingiinto con- 

 tact with the fruit will run into 

 manv pounds. 



Each shipper has a pet thieory 

 of his ow-n in packing fruit for 

 export, and the " best method " 

 has vet to be proved. However, in 

 whatever manner the fruit is pack- 

 ed the fundamental principles of 

 frnit packing are : 



if That the fruit is packed to- 

 gether tightlv enough to prevent 

 shaking and consequent bruising. 

 However, do not pack too tightlv, 

 and induce rotting that way. 



2. There should be a free circu- 

 lation of air around the fruit, as 

 nothinsr tends more quicklv to in- 

 duce rot than a close atmosphere. 



All fruit, before being packed, 

 should be wiped with a soft drv 

 cloth to remove anv moisture. 



4. Handle tenderly, and wear 

 cotton gloves. 



— Storing Fruit. — 



The principal requisites of a 

 ?"ood store-room are. before any- 

 thing else, the means to keep an 

 even temnerature. In no instance 

 should the room Ik m.oist, and 

 'ag-ain not too drv-. No more light 

 than is absolutelv necessary for 

 workincf in should be admitted ;^ in 

 fact, the windows should be p'ro- 

 vided with shutters, so that when 

 not working- wltTi the fruit, lieht 

 can be entinelv exclude'df There- 

 forei whatever room vou intend 

 utilising as a stcre-room see that 

 it possesses the above qualifica- 

 tions. 



If ■"'ou intend to ?o in for fruit 

 export, or keeping for local mar- 

 ket as a business, it s wiser to 

 construct a special store-room for 

 this purpose. Do noe build a 



wooden place, unless vou can have 

 it thoroughly jilastered and free 

 from cracks and crevices — in fact, 

 in eyer^i respect similar to an un- 

 jiapered dwelling room. It is pre- 

 ferabl?, therefore, to bu Id a brick 

 or stone structure, and finish it ofE 

 with doors and windows which can 

 be closed for lumigationf These 

 .should also be fitted with perfor- 

 ated zinc or gauze screens when 

 open for ventilat on. All ventila- 

 tion vents should also be so 

 guarded. 



The fruit should be stored on 

 trays, and placed so that each 

 fruit barely touches its neighbour, 

 and with. a free circulation of air 

 all round. This is the ideal condi- 

 tion. However, I am afraid but 

 a few of mv readers would be able 

 to go to the expen.se of erecting 

 enough store rooms of this des- 

 cription to meet the requirements 

 of their orchard. The nearer vou 

 can get to the above conditions 

 the better it will be for \-our fruit. 



Fruit should be periodicallv ex- 

 amined, and anv that .show the 

 slisrhtest signs of decay should be 

 removed. Others that have a 

 tendencv to " sweat " should be 

 wiped with a soft dry cloth. Also, 

 when handling fruit wear cotton 

 srloves. 



idea that the eggs were laid at 

 that point. It is a very gieneral 

 belief that poison must be deposit- 

 ed within the cup to prevent the 

 entrance of the worms, and in 

 most varieties of apples this can 

 onlv be done duriuf the fortnight 

 following tha dropping of the 

 petals. In the district valley it 

 was observed that the great ma- 

 ioritv enter the fruit e'se where and 

 in another county onlv a third 

 of the worms entered at this 

 ]dace. Furthermore, it wa.s no- 

 tice that spravmg was completely 

 efFective in the first case when ap- 

 plied long after the calvx is closed 

 and in the second trood results .fol- 

 lowed when only two or three per 

 cent, of the cups showed an appre- 

 ciable amount ol the snrav. In 

 both of these cases the decrense of 

 those entering the blossom end was 

 practically as great as of those 

 entering on the side. 



Tt will thus be seen thrit we do 

 not know enoueh of the facts to 

 explain the reasons for th^ e — ci- 

 encv of the poison. — Fxtrnrt from 

 Cirrular loi, IJniversity of Cali- 

 fornia. 



The Codlin Moth. 



The use af arseoical poisons has 

 come to be the sole method for the 

 control of the codlin moth. By 

 their use the insects are killed be- 

 fore instead of aft?r the danger is 

 done and the loss can be reduced 

 to the neighbourhood of one per 

 cent, and sometimes the destruc- 

 tion seems to be completie. At first 

 it was ehoug'ht that the poison 

 could not, affect an insect like this 

 that bores deep into the fruit. 

 When experiments proved that 

 the poisons did protect the crop 

 the general belief chaneped to the 

 idea that they got the poison in 

 the process of burrowinEf through 

 the skin. The fact noted above 

 that thev do not swallow the 

 tissue removed in this procetss sug- 

 p-ests that the subsequent surface 

 feeding is the fatal operation. 



The fact was early observed that 

 in some regions the worm enters 

 the fruit ch eflv at the blossom 

 end, giving rise to the erroneous 



Regular Bearing. 



Regulating the amount of fruit 

 borne in one year involves the pro- 

 fit of two years, because a tree can- 

 not produce an 'excessive amount of 

 good fruit and pe<rfect fruit buds 

 for the following year. It mav 

 generally make buds which will 

 bloom, but not always that. If it 

 does make the bloom, it is no 

 guarantee that the bloom will be 

 strong and eifective for bearing. 

 Consequently, p'runing for reason- 

 able amoimt of bearing should al- 

 ways be borne in view, and should 

 be practised at the close of the year 

 of non-bearing with particular dili- 

 gence, if the alternate year bearing 

 is to be broken up. 



While there are many who neg- 

 lect to follow any system of prun- 

 ing there are others, again, who, 

 with the very best intentions, car- 

 ry this important operation to ex- 

 cess bv continuing to prune too 

 heavily for, at any rate, a few 

 years, certain kinds of trees after 

 thev have reached the age when 

 they should begin to carry fruit. 

 In making up our minds to follow 

 anv system, we should never lose 

 sight of the commercial side of the 

 business ; and any system which 

 encourages excessive growth rather 

 than fruit-bud? a,nd spurs, and pre- 



