March, li)l4 



Tu»<J UAUDEiN AND FIELD. 



453 



Pruning is condnctocl on the same 

 principles as in tliis State. Tlve 

 laterals of such varieties ol ai)plcs 

 as Jonathan, Irish Peach, etc., are 

 left lon^- until fruit-spurs form ; 



One grower who hits a very old 

 orchard, with trees close and m- 

 terlacing, told me that he had re- 

 |ii\enated it hy ploui;-hiuo; very 

 deep with heavy disc ploug-h which 

 cut the roots. They then sent 

 forth new fibrous roots, and he 

 said they did not sucker. He has 

 tried various devices for makiui;' 

 trees bear, and got excellent re- 

 sults from pears which have pre- 

 viously refused to bear, by nearly 

 riugbarking them or by twisting a 

 wire around the ' trunk. Another 

 way he made a stubborn tree bear 

 was to weight the branches so 

 that they hung back to the 

 ground. The How of sap is thus 

 checked and spurs are formed. 



The jam and drying factories 

 which are formed in most of the 

 Tasmanian orchard centres are a 

 ofreat assistance to the grower. 

 It costs the Huonville grower 2/8 

 per case to land his fruit in Syd- 

 ney or Brisbane, and 5/- in Uon- 

 don, and it is the practice of the 

 big orrowers to send half their 

 stufi to either Sydney or Brisbane, 

 or both, and half to London. 



There is more planting going on 

 now on the Tamar than anywhere 

 else in the island. A trip up the 

 river is a beautiful sight with the 

 orchards sloping down to the 

 water on both sides. There is no 

 danger of frosts here, and the fruit 

 colours well. In winter, however, 

 fogs are very bad, and make 

 things very disagreeable. 



— .RainfaU. — 



The rainfall throughout the dis- 

 tricts I visited varied from 20 to 

 40 inches per year, being lightest 

 near -Hobart and heaviest on- the 

 Huon. The sandy soil, however, 

 retains the moisture well. I had 

 the pleasure of going round with 

 the judge at the Bagdad Valley 

 Show whilst he was performing 

 his duties. He was very strict in 

 ruling out any fruit which showed 

 the slightest disease, or which was 

 without its stalk. He cut sev^eral 

 apples, especially Cleopatras and 

 Five Crowns, which are subject 

 to mouldy core, and if they were 

 faulty, out they went, however 

 prepossessing externally and true 

 to type they were. Several exhi- 

 bitors lost points by exhibiting as 

 dessert fruit apples which were too 

 large, although otherwise perfect. 



Most growers used either wocM 

 wool, or a corrugated cardboard 

 which costs about 3/ i)€r hundred 

 sheets. As two sheets are used in 

 a case the cost was about f^tl. per 

 ease. 



A RECORD ! 



All the best growers have some 

 ilistinctive brand, which they en- 

 deavour by honest practice and 

 good packing to make well known 

 in the markets. The produce of 

 many such growers is sold on the 

 brand alone, the buyer not bother- 

 ing to open the case. 



Besides this brand, the cases are 

 all branded with the \ ariety of the 

 Iruit and the quantity, thus, ''I 

 ljushel apples, F.C." (French Crab), 

 or " F.C.P." (Five Crown I'ippinj, 

 etc. 



The practice of branding the ex- 

 act number of apples on the out- 

 side is rapidly growmg in favour. 

 It is readily calculated, especially 

 if the numerical pack be adopted, 

 and enables the agent to obtain for 

 the grower a better price than he 

 otherwise could. 



VICTORIAN ORCHARDS. 



The Victorian orchards are planti 

 ed further apart than the Tas- 

 manian, 18 feet being about the 

 average. At Doncaster, a few; 

 miles out of Melbourne, a lot of 

 irrigation is| done from dams. 

 Pines are grown very extensively 

 as wind breaks, as the district is 

 not naturally sheltered like most 

 of the Tasmanian orchards. 



Mr. vStephens, at his orchard at 

 Heaalesville, has installed a cool 

 store on the most up-to-date lines 

 within the packing shed, which is 

 much handier and altogether prefer- 

 able to having two separate 

 buildings. The ammonia machine is 

 driven by a gas engine, and the 

 cool air arises through cracks in 

 the floor and passes out through 

 similar vents in the roof. Spaces 

 are left between the cases to per- 

 mit of free circulation of air. The 

 apples are brought straight in 

 from the trees and packed loosely 

 in cases. The temperature is kept 

 about 34 deg. Fah., and the fruit 

 is kept until January. The whole 

 orchard is tile drained. 



A disease which has attacked the 

 Five Crown apple was very bad in 

 this orchard. It is called " pig- 

 face " or " crinkle," and consists 

 of a crinkle in the skin under 

 which the apple is discoloured. 

 This disease seems to be a sap 

 trouble, and a first cousin to bit- 

 ter-pit ; spraying does no good. 

 One thousand cases of Five Crown 



AULDANA 

 WINES.. 



im •ompaiiiioB agai^ai all 



AUSTRALIA 



ai ADSLAIDK WINB SHOWS. 



1»04. CHAMPION CUP for 



HOCK 



low. CHAMPION CUP f«c 



CLARET 



CHAMPION CUP lor 



SHERRY 



Unidas also many 



FIRST PRIZES 



to* mumcrous t« mmtion 

 Town Offi«e : 



Australasia Chambers, 

 King Wm. St., Adelaide. 



YiiMjrardB amd Cellars : 



Mafi^iU, South Australia 



