THE GARDEN AND FIELD. 



March, l9U 



not be considered tropical in any 

 respect, except in the range of the 

 thermometer, and, Irish-like, we 

 would sav that this tropical char- 

 acteristic' is not tropical at all, be- 

 cause it is not characteristic of 

 tropical climates to have intense 

 drv heat. 



— Quick Changes. — 

 Another characteristic of tropi- 

 cal climates is long periods of 

 even temperatures. The inhabi- 

 tants of the tropics know that as 

 it is to-day so will it probably be 

 for weeks or mouths. The resi- 

 dents of South Aus.tralia, \ ictoria,, 

 and much of oS'ew South Wales 

 and West Australia live in daily 

 expectation that as it is to-day so 

 will it not be to-morrow. iVlore 

 or less complete changes occur all 

 through tlie year at intervals of 

 from a few days to a fortnight. 

 In the winter season we have Kug- 

 ]ish spring days and slightl)- frosty 

 nights, follow-ed by short periods 

 of cold, blustering wind and rain. 

 In the summer we have a lew days 

 of intense dry heat, culminating in 

 hot blasts, as though the furnace 

 door of mythical Hades had been 

 left accidentally open, and the looset 

 portions of the surface of the dry 

 soil starts on a roving mission, 

 lillin'/ and darkening the atmos- 

 phere for hundreds of miles with 

 dust and sand. The thermometer 

 runs up to anything from 95 de- 

 grees to 112 degrees. Fahr. in the 

 shade at midday or thereabouts ; 

 evervone growls and 'jjruml)les, but 

 work oroes on as it never could in 

 a tropical heat. Then comes one 

 of the great features of this cli- 

 mate. The wind changes, and in a 

 few hours the thermometers drop 

 30 to so deerees. Then people who 

 desired to live in an ice-chest and 

 drink lemon squash at midday 

 put on overcoats in the evening, 

 and next day are comfortable in 

 the ordinary dress of an lMv:'li-!i 

 man, and the visitor just landed 

 from an ocean boat praises the 

 1>eautiful, bracing, mild climate. 



In North Africa, Turkey in Asia, 

 Greece, and such warm dry cli- 



mates, the people expect several 

 months of even temperature, and 

 arrange to dress accord, ugly ; but 

 what can w^e do w"here it is neces- 

 sary to dress in the thinnest of 

 white in the morning, but take 

 rugs and wraps if one expects to 

 be away for more than a few 

 hours ? 



There is undoubtedly much room 

 for improvement in the habits of 

 feeding, drinking, and living in 

 Australia ; but the frequent 

 changes, the variations of teimper- 

 ature, and conditions render the 

 problem a very diiiicult one. In 

 Adelaide the range of the temper- 

 ature of the air throughout the 

 year is normally between 34 de- 

 grees Fahr. in July or August, 

 and 110 Fahr. in summer. It oc- 

 casionally goes to a few points 

 within freezing. The number of 

 days over 90 degrees averages a 

 little over 40 in the year, of which 

 rather more than 10 are over the 

 100. The mean temperature is 

 about 62 degrees Fahr. These fi- 

 gures, together with the evidence of, 

 the ripening of fruits and the dry 

 atmosphere, show that in spite of 

 the intense heat of some days, the 

 climate is essentially a mild, tem'. 

 perate one, and is not a tropical 

 one at all. 



tit from them, but immediately j 



over one pipe I have six roses and 1 



a lot of other things. These evi- | 



dently enjoy the treatment and j 



look as if they were growing over | 



a spring. ! 



^ , 



APPLES FOR EXPORT. 



Sub - Irrigation. 



The scarcity of water in the su- 

 burban area has led many garden- 

 ers to try their hands at sub-irri- 

 gation. Quite a long while ago a 

 subscri1>er wrote us as follows on 

 the subject :— 



I have tried the sub-irrigation 

 system on a very small scale by 

 inserting three rows of galvanized 

 down piDiiio- (2-in.) full length of 

 my flower garden. These pipes are 

 perforated on the under side and 

 have a sliirht fall, so, that gravita- 

 tion conveys the water to the far 

 tnd. Mv pipes are too deep for 

 small seedlings to reap much bene- 



ill illlli. .rllluiiiillll lllri„iillllir<il!lii< 



li„„„||li„,„ll! ill lilliiM.illl I ll .illli...'illl llhii.iilllii..,i:llii. 



1 E. ANDERS & SONS, > 



\ AGRICULTURAL ENOINEERS, &c., FREELINO, S.A. | 



1 Manufacturers of High Quality STEEL CULTIVATOR SHARES. I 



i PerfecBlv Shaped to do irood work, cut out all weedB, are light in draught, and give entire eatmlacfon . 

 _i in wear. = 



1 Anders' SHARES are absolutely the best and Cheapest you can Buy. L 



1 The,e«,are,are^de.rn„,^ec.a.3uMU^ L 



= fixture, or ordinary bolt bole. We can Buppli looj.B when required. Our Reverbible bnares are ^ 

 I Money Savers. „ . j j s 



FARMERS ! It wlK vay you to use our Shares-Post your orders to us. 5 

 ^ E. ANDERS & SONS, FREt'LINQ. f 



4,„„,p.„l, ,|, ,||n.-,,,|,..,||,.n..Mr-.il|.i.' II l|l"""l| Mil I Ill' 1 "lll'-ni ' Ml I Ill II I 'I ^H-"!? 



rrolitable orchard work really 

 comes under three main headings — 

 \^L) the growing oi the fruit ; ^2) 

 the packing oL the fruit ; ^2>) the 

 selling of the fruit. To get best 

 results each is as important as the 

 other ; lor given equal quality a 

 well packed and well sold consign-" 

 iiient will return very much more 

 nett prolil, than one which is indif- 

 ferently graded and packed and 

 sold without full knowledge of 

 markets. With regard to growing 

 the fruit, the orchardist is largely 

 depending on natural forces, in 

 grading and in packing out the 

 matter is in his own hands, whilst 

 for selling he looks, or should look 

 to his agents. The advantageous 

 selling of fruit in oversea markets 

 is a special business. The man 

 who sells best in the long run is 

 the man who knows most, andithis 

 is obviously the man who has 

 agents and correspondents in the 

 world's market. It is impossible 

 for each individual fruitgrower to 

 do this. We must leave it to the 

 man who makes a business of it 

 and who makes a living out of it. 

 It is true, that the total selling 

 charges out of a consignment is 

 increased by the agent's commis- 

 sion, but the nett returns are 

 more than correspondingly greater. 

 What the p-rower, who sometimes 

 objects to the commission idea, 

 should remember, is that it is not 

 he w"ho really pavs it but the con- 

 sumer. Messrs. I'revost & Co., of 

 Steadnship Buildings, Currie Street 

 Adelaide, go in' largely for fruit 

 exportation. Their business in this 

 department is based solely on com- 

 mission, lines, there is no possibili- 

 ty of their own and their clients' 

 interests clashing. The higher the 

 price secured thie better it is for 

 both parties. In order to facili- 

 tate their customers' business as 

 much as possible they undertake 

 the supply of all packing requisites 

 so that all the grower has to do 

 is to write them that he has so 

 many cases of fruit on his trees, 

 everything except the manual la- 

 bour of pickintr, packincr, and cart- 

 ;i'n" will, if required, be undertaken 

 by this firm. If the grower pre- 

 fers to buy his cases, paper, etc., 

 elsewhere, Messrs. Prevost will lie 

 equally pleased to accept the sell- 

 ing of the fruit in any market de- 

 sired. 



