502 



THE GARDE^J AND FIELD. 



April, 1914 



- Forestry and Fruit Growing. - 



soil to the passage of water, and 

 tending to free other necessary ele- 

 ments of plant food whicn niav i;e 

 in an unavailahle form. Heavy soil 

 is made to work more fr eelv K well 

 limed, and in soils tending to be 

 sour, owinjr to an ex,vess of decay- 

 ing vegetation, the alkalmity oi 

 the lime acts as a corrective, des- 

 troying the weak humic acids and 

 preventing their accumulation. It 

 is also essential to the life of the 

 nitrifving bacteria, the work of 

 which goes on much more rapidly 

 where there is a good amount of 

 lime in the soil. Gypsum, or cal- 

 cium suli)hate, has much the same 

 effect as ordinary lime, though it 

 is probably- not so caustic nor ac- 

 tive in its effect. As a manure its 

 value was over estimated, but its 

 indirect action aipon the soil fer- 

 tility, especiall)- as to the free- 

 ing of potash salts, renders it a 

 valuable addition to a vineyard 

 soil ; thus it is important to the 

 growth of those deep. rooted crops 

 requiring potash, such as peas, 

 etc., and therefore, in soils deficient 

 in lime, it is the practice to use 

 gypsum when growing peas as 

 green manure. For this purpose 

 ground gypsum may be used at 

 the rate of 3 cwt. to 5 cwt. per 

 acre. As a corrective to heavy 

 clay soil it may be applied at the 

 rate of 10 cwt. to 20 cwt., al- 

 though for this purpose it is not 

 so active as ordinary lime. Deal- 

 ing, with manures in general, we 

 find that an acre of vmes will 

 absorlj annually 50 IIjs. ot nitrogen, 

 45 lbs. potash, and 10 lbs. phos- 

 phoric acid. After all, manuring 

 aims at the maintenance or the 

 increase of the fertility of the soil, 

 and if this is to be accomplished, 

 it becomes necessar\' to add an- 

 nuallv these quantities of the vari- 

 ous fertilismg elements. 



<$> 



.V German actor refused to learn 

 English on the ground that he 

 could make nothing of a language 

 where people wrote " ass " and 

 pronounced it " donkey. 



TEY 



JAMES WHITE & SON 



238, CARRINGTON ST., ADELAIDI':, 

 — For — 



Hatha and Rath TTeaters, 

 Tanks, Skylights, Ventilatore, etc., 

 And all kinds of Plumbing WtTk. 



First Quality Work Only. 



Mr. J. Osborne, jun. (Tasmanian 

 Fruit and Forestry ICxpert), re- 

 cently read the following paper 

 Forestry as applied to the Cultiva- 

 tion of Trees for Shelter, taking 

 into Consideration their Valuei for 

 Timber Purposes. He said, " the 

 great loss caused by late irosts in 

 several fruit districts in the State 

 during the past season has given 

 rise to a number of surmises and 

 questions as to the cause, with an 

 unmistakable desire to avoid a 

 recurrence of the trouble. In 

 several cases the whole crop was 

 lost ; the foliage, being young and 

 tender, suffered also, the trees pre- 

 senting a brown, scarred appear- 

 ance, verv unusual during the 

 spring season in Tasmania. The 

 orchards most affected were situ- 

 ated in rather deep valleys, the 

 hills on either side rising in some 

 cases about '2oo feet. In other cases 

 the orchards were in the open, 

 flat country, the loss, however, be- 

 ing much less in such instances. 

 During the last week in October 

 the davs were exceedingly bright in 

 certain districts, causing undue 

 excitement in the trees. These 

 bright davs were followed by clear, 

 cold nights, with a chilling li.v"u 

 breeze from the south and south- 

 west, leaving in its track, a thick 

 crop of frost particles. It is al. 

 most certain that the great fall in 

 temjieratiire, assisted by the keen, 

 cutting wind, caused the fruit to 

 fall, the effect being readily seen 

 when the sun began to be felt dur- 

 ing the forenoon. From this it 

 would seem' that cold winds from 

 the south or south-west are likely 

 to cause more loss than what is 

 called a natural frost, which is due 

 to too great a radiation of heat 

 from the surface of the soil on 

 still, clear nights. If such is the 

 case, the losses mentioned are due 

 to preventable causes, there being 

 no doubt that the presence of 

 shelter-trees which retain their 

 leaves during the whole year will 

 mitigate, if not entirely remove, 

 the trouble. 



It has Ije^en said for many years 

 that the greatest danger to fruit- 

 growers is the lack of shelter from 

 cold winds during the early spring, 

 or indeed the whole of that very 

 variable season. Fruitgrowers do 

 not fear an ordinary frost ; but 

 look on cold southerlys with posi- 

 tive dread. This feeling has in- 

 duced a few to indulge in the ])lant- 

 ing of trees, and not without suc- 

 cess, one grower having told the 

 writer that his shelter-trees were 



the most profitable in the orchard, 

 as before these had attained much 

 size his crops were much lighter, 

 jjears ))articularly. The presence 

 of a large number of trees in the 

 near vicinity is always found to 

 prevent loss from frost. In the 

 fertile wooded valley of the Huon, 

 and indeed any country so situat- 

 ed as regards shelter, the loss 

 from the effect of cold winds is 

 almost nil. On the other hand, 

 take the losses reported from situ- 

 ations that have long since become 

 deforested, and .it will be found 

 that the comparison is, to say the 

 least, awful. It is sometimes 

 urged that timber trees are too 

 exacting, and remove too much 

 from the soil for their own use, 

 and if these strong-growing trees 

 were planted side by side with 

 Iruit trees there would be some ex- 

 cuse for the statement. Fruit- 

 growers are not advised to go to 

 such lengths. It is certain, how- 

 ever, apart from the fact that the 

 very necessary shelter will be given 

 by large, strong-growing trees 

 when ]ilanted on exposed situa- 

 tions, that deep-rooted plants form 

 as it were a network of fibrous 

 matter in the soil, enabling them 

 to retain for a long period the 

 moisture that falls, keeping rivu- 

 lets, creeks, etc., running for a 

 long time after the streams that 

 pass through deforested country 

 liave disappeared. The roots bore 

 deeply into the soil, and permit the 

 entry of air and moisture that is 

 retained for use during dry sea- 

 sons, the trees exhaling moisture in 

 the form of vapour during dry, 

 sunny wca.ther, and radiating con- 

 served heat during cold s'pells. 

 There are not wanting instances 

 where certain trees have caused 

 the drying up of stagnant water 

 in low, swampy places, rendering 

 habitable an area that previously 

 was unfit for occui^ation by human 

 loeings, showing that moisture is 

 freeh- gi\en off by the foliage of 

 trees. To the farmer or grazier 

 the \alue of shelter is equalh- 

 great, the cold, high-drying winds 

 being resi)onsible for much loss of 

 l>asture, to sav nothing of the mor- 

 talitv among sheep and cattle in 

 the open, exposed Country, a condi- 

 tion that is to be frequently found 

 in nearlv every part of the State. 



The agriculturist, in taking up a 

 selection, acts as though every 

 tree was a mortal eneriny, to be 

 removed at the earliest possible 

 moment.^ This spirit has caused 

 wholesale destruction, the idea of 



