TEE AQEIGULTUBAL JOURNAL. 



455 



To see the naartje trees hiul been my 

 object, and with their excolieut appear- 

 ance I was impressetl. The trees bore 

 exceptionally fine- looking fruit, and the 

 branches were so heavily laden as to re- 

 quire propping. The trees were clean, 

 and in the most vigorous state of health. 

 Here are some of tha answers I received 

 in reply to my questions. 



""Yes; the trees are. all grafted; the 

 grafted, instead of being weaker tliuu 

 seedlings, as some growers contemi, are, 

 in my opinion, formed by reading of the 

 results in other countries, and by my own 

 observation, stronger. There are grafted 

 naartjes here twenty-five years old, and 

 showing no signs of decay. Then, with 

 grafted trees, you can rely upon getting 

 fruit true to its class, which you cannot 

 with seedlings. The few seedlings which 

 I have I am going to root out immttli- 

 mediately. For two years they have 

 made no progress. On the other hand 

 look at those j oung grafted trees ; look 

 how vigorous they are, and see what a lot 

 of new growth they are putting out. 

 They come from Mr. Todd, of the Town 

 Bush Valley. I water the trees as soon 

 as the fruit begins to ripen. The water 

 comes by pipe from a small spring near 

 the Zwaartkop Station. The split bam- 

 boos, with the partitions knocked out, 

 make, as you see, capital conduits for the 

 water to the different trees. I cannot 

 afford to waste any water. As to pruning 

 I do but very little, and all over the 

 world it is getting recognised that the 

 citrus class of tree requires but little of 

 this attention. In the middle of the trees 

 I cut out some of the wood so as to give 

 better access to the air and light, and I 

 prune back at the top a little so as to keep 

 the tree from straggling up too high, and 

 making its fruit difficult to get at. It is 

 a great thing to have your naartjes get- 

 at-able, because each fruit should be care- 

 fully severed by cutting, leaving a small 

 bit of the twig attached. The keeping 

 of thtj orchard clean is most important. 

 Every third year I give each tree 151bs. 

 of bone dust. By-the-byo, it is strange 

 that the bone millers will no longer 

 supply their dust in three grades of fine- 

 ness. I sift mine into the three formerly 

 supplied grades, the coar-est, and conse- 

 quently the least active, going to the fruit 

 trees. Tes ; into those pits the falleii 



fruit is thrown, practically every day. 

 Mr. Fuller, the Departmental Kntomolo- 

 gist strongly advised me to do so, and 

 although there are neglected orchards in 

 the neighbourhood, the benefit in keep- 

 ing down the fly has been most marked. 

 In selling the fruit it is almost impossible 

 to take too much care in the packing and 

 grading. The get-up goes a long way in 

 fetching big prices." 



" How does naartje growing pay ? " 



" Capitally. You see we are a month 

 later than on the coast— the great naartje 

 district of the Colony. Here are a few 

 examples of sales : — At the Maritzburg 

 market, 58. for 48 of top class ; 4s. 9d. for 

 80 of medium class. On the Durban 

 market in September, 1898, I got £1 

 Is. 6d. for 100 selected naartjes. 

 The following year, immediately after 

 my first consignment of the season was 

 sold on the Durban market, and before I 

 had heard the result from the market- 

 master, an agent arrived here and con- 

 tracted to take all my naartjes at Gs. per 

 100 on the trees. He was a smart man. I 

 shall not forget the lesson." 



"And about fumigation : I see you do 

 it yourself ? " 



" Certainly. I bought the tents, etc., 

 through Mr. Fuller, and under his in- 

 structions I learnt how the operation 

 was done — which is indeed simple enough. 

 I would not now, on any account, be 

 without a fumigating plant. The cost of 

 the chemicals for fumigating a small tree 

 is about i!d , and for a big tree about (5(1. 

 The tents for the big trees cost £*i 10s." 



Faugh-a-Ballagh, as the farm is called, 

 is interehting for its trees, many of the 

 specimens being about forty years old. 

 Of course there are plenty of the blue 

 gum, that, of late, is being spoken of so 

 disrespectfully. As a timber tree Mr. 

 Pepworth has nothing to say in its favour. 

 The Ficus indica, Rostrata, Stuartina, A.uri- 

 tralian Oak or Grevillea robusta, Oyster- 

 bay Pine, and several others are repre- 

 sented. From wood of the Grevillea 

 robusta, grown on the farm, Mr. Pep- 

 worth has had a writing desk made. The 

 grain of the wood is beautiful, and the 

 polish the wood takes is perfect. It was 

 made l;>y Mr. Reid, of Marit burg, the 

 cabinetmaker. Remembering the strong 

 contracting and expanding tendencies, ac- 

 cording to the seasons, of some yellow- 



