588 



Apple Culture. 



[JAN., 



valuable plant foods for the apple, and may with safety be 

 applied at the rate of from 3 to 5 cwt. each per acre, in 

 addition to the farm-yard manure, if necessary. The amount 

 applied must be regulated by the growth of the trees and the 

 crops they produce. 



Washing. 



The trees must be washed in the spring, when the caterpillars 

 resulting from the winter moth* appear, which is usually about 

 the time the trees are in flower. Older trees, infested with 

 lichen, &c, affording protection for many pests in embryo during 

 winter, may be washed in February with a mixture made of 



I lb. caustic soda 

 I lb. crude potash 

 I lb. soft soap 

 10 galls, water. 



Sufficient whitening may be added to the wash at the time of 

 spraying to define where the wash has actually been applied. 

 This will ensure the whole of the trees being dressed. 



Renovation of Old Trees. 



The renovation of old-established standard trees is well worth 

 close attention if they are good kinds. If the sorts are not ot 

 the best the trees may he headed down and good saleable kinds 

 grafted on to them. Bramley's Seedling and Stone's will prove 

 useful cooking kinds for grafting on old trees of discarded 

 varieties, while for dessert Allington Pippin and Worcester 

 Pearmain may be used. If the trees are of good kinds, but 

 impoverished, a good dressing of farm-yard manure, together 

 with superphosphate and kainit, should be applied early in the 

 autumn, and should be well dug in if the land is arable. If the 

 land has been laid down to grass the same manures may be 

 applied as a top dressing, but their action will not be so 

 apparent as on cultivated land. 



All useless boughs, particularly those growing crossways in 



* The methods of prevention and the washes recommended for use against the 

 caterpillars of the winter moth are given in the Board's Leaflet No. 4, and among the 

 other pests of apple trees dealt with in separate leaflets are Apple Blossom Weevil 

 (No. 15) ; Apple Sucker (No. 16) ; Codling Moth (No, 30) ; Woolly Aphis (No 34) ; 

 Canker Fungus (No. 56) ; Mussel Scale (No. 107) ; Fruit Tree Beetle (No. 49) ; 

 Tent Caterpillars (No. 69) ; Brown Rot of Fruit (No. 86) ; Fungus Disease (No. 87) ;. 

 The Pith Moth (No. 90). Information as to winter washing of fruit trees is given in 

 Leaflet No. 70. 



