FRUIT FARMING. 



535 



order. It is far better to lose a year in the proper preparation of the soil, merely cleaning 

 and deeply ploughing and preparing it for a heavy manurial dressing, than to plant on land 

 that is foul with weeds or sour from want of drainage and tillage. Another error is often 

 committed by purchasing job lots of trees at sales by auction. Select young healthy trees 

 from a good nursery, as they are then true to name and will prove profitable more quickly 

 than the stunted examples offered at auction sales. In short, the cheapest trees are generally 

 the most expensive in the end. 



Again, planters must not " stick in " the trees, but plant each one carefully, never too 

 deeply, and as soon as they are placed the whole should be protected from stock — rabbits 

 and hares — either by single wires to orchard trees, or if in plantation form the holding should 

 be wired all round the outside, including the gates, before planting commences. The wire 

 should be 3 J-ft. high, and Gin. of it must be beneath the soil, so that the game cannot burrow 

 under it. If not wired at once, a fall of snow, which renders the food of rabbits and hares 

 scarce, makes them search further for sustenance, and they will often ruin hundreds of trees 

 in one night. 



Provided the proposed fruit plantation or orchard is protected from prevailing winds 

 the position is not material ; but it is better to avoid bleak spots or those facing east which 

 catch the early morning sun, which often destroys the blossom. Where shelter is needed 

 the Italian Poplar is the fastest-growing tree to plant, or Elms, but the Quick hedges which 

 divide the fields can be encouraged to grow rapidly by cleaning out the base and digging in 

 some rough manure and thus form a wind break - . Care should always be taken to cut these 

 hedges in the form of the letter A, as otherwise the base will become bare, and if the hedge be 

 cut close, and the netting fixed as near as possible to the main stems of the hedge, the growth 

 will come through the meshes, and thus in a few years form a grand fence against mischievous 

 boys and all ground game. 



GATHERING. — It pays well to have all the fruit gathered in baskets lined with soft 

 sacking or in lined open Sussex baskets. The old form of plucking and carrying in bushel 

 bags slung on the gatherer's back" is the worst possible way, and in getting it to the store or 

 packing shed only spring vans should be used, as " condition " on its arrival at market is an 

 all-important factor towards obtaining good prices. In packing, discard all the small fruit and 

 any specked or malformed examples, and make firsts and seconds of the remainder, and the 

 fruit will command a much better price than if mixed. In marketing, consign to a respectable 

 salesman, and let each basket be labelled with the name of the fruit, and the salesman should 

 also be advised by post of the number of baskets, the sorts of fruit, and the mode of 

 conveyance. 



Summer culture consists in keeping the land thoroughly free from weeds in the 

 plantations, and the orchard trees free from grass or weeds next their stems (say a 3ft. to 

 6ft. circle), and proper attention must be given to early thinning of the fruit when a heavy 

 crop is set. Gooseberries may be gathered at three or four pickings. Apples pay handsomely 

 for early thinning; the immature fruit sold covers the cost of labour, and the remaining 

 crop is so much better perfected that it makes more money than if it had not been regulated. 

 The summer pruning consists in removing useless spray and suckers that arise from the stocks 

 on which the trees are worked. 



The winter w ork consists in pruning back such wood as is not required for the extension 

 of the trees, and further to form them in a regular basin-shape manner. In the case of bush 

 soft fruits, prune severely but carefully, and after this work is done, collect all the primings 

 and burn them at once, to destroy insect eggs, etc. The plantation can then be dug over with 

 a short fined fork, and be left rough for the winter frosts and snows to sweeten the soil. 

 Manure is usually got in before this digging is commenced, but on light soils it is better to place 

 it on the surface after the winter digging is completed. 



Artificial manures are decidedly preferable, as they do not bring weeds on the land ; 



