May, mi 



Spraying. 



Tlio material must be of the pro- 

 per strength. If it is too stroiis; 

 the tree will be danvajjed ; if it is 

 too weak the work will not be ae- 

 cornplished. 



The work nnist be done tho- 

 roui^hlv. If one liinb or a few 

 twii's of the tree are left untreat- 

 ed they spread infection to the 

 treated ])arts a little later and a 

 larq'e share of the expense and la- 

 bor of spraying is lost. 



— Thinnintr. — 



^^'hen thinnintr was first advocat- 

 ed it caused manj' to smile and a 

 few to lauoh, but now it is ad- 

 mitted that the labor of thinnin<r 

 is more than balanced b)'^ : — 



(1) I<abor saved at picking time. 



(2) Labor sav«d in grading and 

 packing. 



(3) More uniform grade of fruit, 

 and 



(4) Higher percentage of Number 

 Ones. Also it^ brings the tree to 

 more regular vearlv yields. 



♦ 



I 



White Ants. 



It is said that a good way to 

 prevent these pests attacking floor- 

 ing boards and other permanent 

 wood work, is by saturating the 

 wood with arsenic in solution, i 

 ft. arsenic, i lb soda dissolved by 

 boiling in i gallon of water. Use 

 one part with 18 parts of hot 

 water, and saturate the joints 

 and paint on the imderside, ends 

 and edges of the flooring boards 

 before putting them down. Have 

 the boards quite dry, and the solu- 

 tion hot, and apply freely. It is 

 also stated that giving the joints 

 and imderside and edges of the 

 boards a coating of lime wash is a 

 sure preventative. 



THE GARDEN AND FIELD. 



Cherries. 



Some u.seful iufoniiatioii bearing 

 iil)uii cherry culture in the hills has 

 liecn given by Mr. Hawke, of Uraidla, 

 who stated that, unlike apples and 

 pcais, cherries would not do well in 

 I)laci's other than the liills, and there- 

 fore he thought growers need have 

 no apprehension regarding future 

 markets for this fruit. They should 

 plant more cherries, though it was 

 never wise to put all one's eggs in 

 one basket. I^and for cherry-grow- 

 ing should be broken to a depth of 

 not less than iSiii., cither by sub- 

 soiling with a plough or by grul)- 

 bing. If the soil was not so broken 

 the trees would commence to die 

 l)ack in a few years. Fifty trees 

 properly planted would yield more 

 cherries when, say, ten years old than 

 would 100 trees put in under less 

 favorable conditions. His advice was 

 to plant some of each of the very 

 best varieties. Some early sorts, and 

 others to come on during the remain- 

 der of the season. The following 

 selection would be found to be a good 

 one: — Purple Guigne, Twyford, Early 

 Lyon then Knight's Black and Tar- 

 tarian, followed by Biggareau Napol- 

 eon, Waterloo, Margaret, and Up-to- 

 Date. These would supply fruit 

 from the beginning to the end of the 

 season. Other varieties had certain 

 merits, but it was a pity that some, 

 such as Droopers, were grown at all, 

 as they only served to keep the price 

 low. It would be noticed that the 

 selection named included about equal 

 numbers of dark and light varieties. 

 When selling it was easy to obtain 

 orders for about half of each, but if 

 the grower had only the light cher- 

 ries he would frequently experience 

 difficulty in disposing of them. 

 Buyers took the light fruit where 



n6l 



they could get the dark. He would 



not advise anyone to plant only dark 

 kinds as at some future time the 

 taste of the pul)lic might call for the 

 light varieties, and the boot would 

 be on the other foot. The best 

 stocks to work on were good seed- 

 lings. These grew larger trees, and 

 would not l)e continually throwing 

 up suckers, as the Kentish stocks did. 

 On no account should trees be 

 planted that were worked on Mo- 

 haleb stocks. He had aI)out two 

 dozen of these trees, 12 years old, 

 and they were a failure. In a few 

 years they would die out. The best 

 way was to work on one's own trees, 

 and have the satisfaction of knowing 

 what one was planting. In regard to 

 pruning, it was advisable to head 

 the young trees, and for the first four 

 or five years keep them well back, to 

 encourage the formation of a good 

 number of branches. These should 

 be brought out as much as possible 

 to produce a low tree. This class of 

 tree would bear more fruit and it 

 would be much easier to pick than 

 would a high tree. After the first 

 few years cherries did not require a 

 great deal of pruning. Any that was 

 necessary should be done in autumn 

 or early winter. If left till the sap 

 began to rise the trees were likely 

 to gum. Manuring cherry trees, he 

 said, was much neglected. It was es- 

 sential to supply manure to the trees 

 if good fruit was to be picked. Last 

 year he had supplied 2 lb. of super- 

 phosphate, I lb. sulphate ammonia, 

 and I lb. sulphate potash to each of 

 certain trees as a test. The result 

 was splendid fruit, both in size and 

 color. Others manured with bone- 

 dust were good, but not equal to 

 those mentioned. Those trees which 

 had no manure produced very poor 

 fruit indeed. Where trouble was ex- 



DEOIDUOUS FRUIT TREES. 



WieKS Bros., 



Late If. Wicksf, Riverside and Balhannah, Pavneham 



We specialize in Deciduous Fruit Trees and Vines. 45 acres of faultlessly grown Fruit Trees. 



Large Stocks of Apples, Almonds, Apricots, Cherries, Plums and Prunes, Pears, Peaches, Quince?, etc , etc. 



ORDERS FORWARDED TO ANY PART OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 



inspection invited. 



Visitors met by appointment at Balhannah Railway Station 



Catalogues Free on Application. 



