Nov. 1, 1901.] THE TRPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
299 
of lime juice and to candied peel may well be left 
out. Mandarins, oranges and lemons are, therefore, 
of all citrus truits, those which, having proved 
themselves well suited to the conditions of soil and 
climate of this country and to the requirements of 
our local as well as of our export markets will be 
reviewed in the following paragraphs •. — 
Of all our citrus fruits mandarias or tangerines 
are, for the purpose of the local market, the most 
valuable, the trees are hardy, they bear even when 
young heavy crops of fruit, they do not occupy 
much room in the or>hard, being dwarf in compari- 
son with other citrus trees. For this reason the 
crop is easily gathered, the trees aie more easily 
sprayed and protected against the infestation of 
scale insects — that curse of our orange groves — 
they are, besides most delicious fruit, easily peeled 
and greatly liked by everyone, young and old. 
Our market is at present badly supplied with this 
fruit, au(i as growers have, besides, for some ■un- 
accountable reason, been somewhat chary in plant- 
ing them, it is quite unlikely that the demand will , 
for a long time to come, be satisfied. Nor can the 
Eastern States supply us with any large quantities 
of these fruits, as our mandarin season seems to be 
more protracted over here than it is in the east. 
Moreover, the fruit is not a very good carrier, the 
rind being puffy and the fruit tender, and on thit 
account a heavy percentage of the shipments sent 
over here is lost to the importers. 
In order to be profitable, the mandarin tree must 
be grown on the best of soils, deep, moist and 
fertile. Of varieties, the best in the order in which 
they ripen are Parker's Special, Thorny, Queen, 
Scarlet, Beauty of Glen Retreat and Emperor. 
Mandarins can only carry when packed with the 
greatest care and attention, and when this is done 
with intelligence, the result is always satisfactory. 
They are best packed like figs, in shallow boxes, 
in layers of a dozen each for fruit of the first 
grade, and eighteea of the second grade, it is not 
advisable to iiave more than two such layers. 
Each mandarin should be wrapped in soft wrap- 
ping paper. Some packing houses have their trade 
mark and name printed on the paper, and as they use 
large quantities of that material, the extra cost is 
only nominal. If the mandarins are of especial 
quality and are meant for a select market, they 
are often wrapped iu tin foil, and packed in neat 
boxes having an edging of lace paper, with an 
artistically colored design on the paper cover. 
The fruit is, of course, as in the instance of 
oranges and lemons, carefully clipped and never 
pulled from the tree, it is allowed to sweat before 
packing, and none but fruit free from blemish is 
ever packed. 
Oeanges 
Are of all the citrus fruit those most extensively 
planted in this State, where they thrive with great 
luxurian.;e. They require good soil, moist, but well* 
drained, and wherever the best varieties are culti- 
vated in congenial locations and are well fertilised, 
the West Australian oranges invariably supplant 
the imported fruit on the local market, 
Thickness of the rind and sweetness of the juice, 
as well as abundance of crops, can to a large extent 
be influenced by manuring. 
Heavy dressings of coarse farmyard or pig manure 
promote thick and puffy rind, and the growth of 
spongy wood tissuei particularly liable when under 
unfavourable circumstaacei to gumming and die-back 
diseases. Whenever the trees require a dressing of 
a nitrogenous fertiliser either nitrate of soda or 
sulphate of ammonia should be givea the preference. 
Potash fertilisers iuflaencs a thrifty growth, a 
healthy, deep color of both foliage and of rind, and 
a greater degree of sweetness. For that purpose 
sulphate of potash, muriate of potash or kainit can 
be used. When using kainit the dressing should be 
more liberal than when either of the first two 
fertilisers are used. 
Phosphates increase the productiveness of the 
trees and the general excellence of the fruit. Either 
bone dust, phosphatic guano or Thomas' Phosphate 
give very good results. When it is intended to benefit 
more particularly the current season's crop, super- 
phosphate of lime, which is more soluble than the 
other phosphatio fertilisers, applied in the late winter, 
or as late as the early spring, will be found most 
useful, Two to six lbs. of these fertiliizers, accord- 
ing to the size of the trees, constitute a very good 
dressing. 
Unlike lemons, which should be picked before 
they turn yellow, oranges are always better when 
left to bang until ripe and sweet. There is a degree 
of ripeness however, which, if over-reached, proves 
detrimental to the long keeping of oranges. 
Nothing but the best fruit, absolutely free from 
scale insects will carry and open satisfactorily 
when marketed. Fruit trees cannot carry a heavy 
crop and sustain large colonies of scale insects at 
the same time. 
For picking the fruit some growers twist the stalk 
until it snaps ; fruit thus plucked have a poor chance 
of keeping. Clippers that will not injure the fruit 
should be used in preference to a knife. The stalk 
is out short, just above the star ; if cut too long, 
it will probably puncture some of the fruit in the 
case and thus engender decay. 
Some orchard liands when stripping a tree place 
the fruit in a turned up apron fastened over their 
shoulders and round their loins ; this plan is not to 
be recommended, as the fruit rolls about and thus 
gets more or lesd bruised ; light buckets are most 
convenient for that work ; they can be hanged until 
full to the step-ladder and then lowered and emptied 
in boxes with open salts and there left to sweat 
until packed for market. These boxes are filled so 
that one can be placed on the top of another without 
the oranges below being crushed by the case above. 
If a spring cart is not available for conveying the 
fruit to the packing shed, and more especially if 
the road be rough and uneven, a bedding of straw 
in the bottom of the dray will save the fruit from 
being bruised. When freshly picked the rind of 
oranges and lemons is indeed brittle and its cells 
filled with moisture, essenlial oils and air. 
After standing a few days, beads of sweat can be 
seen on the rind, which then becomes smoother, 
more pliable and leathery and leas liable to be 
bruised by pressing in the case. 
When properly sweated, which will take three to 
four days, the packer handle.s each fruit, wipes it 
dry and grades it according to size and quility. 
Fruit picked after heavy rain takes longer to sweat 
and is more easily bruised. It is then wrapped in a 
piece of tough but soft tissue paper, the four corners 
being gathered up at the stem end and twisted, thus 
acting as a spring buffer which saves the fruit 
around from possible bruises. The paper should not 
be too large, and of course varies in size with the 
size of the fruit ; that mor'e common dimensions 
being 9x9 inches. 10 x to in or 10 x 12 in:;hes. 
This done, each fruit is firmly set in its proper 
place in the case, tier upon tier. Should the last 
layer rise above the edges of the case, quarter of 
an inch or so, so much the better ; the lid is placed 
on top and pressed down gently and firmly and 
nailed down. Oranges packed in this way, will not, 
when opened on sale, be found as several cases of 
otherwise choice fruits despatched last season to the 
Agent-General in London, to have " too much 
paper, be of mixed size, and slackly packed," 
but they should carry in good condition even as 
ordinary cargo. 
The cases should be made of light and well, 
seasoned wood, stowed away under shelter until used, 
so as to protect them from weather stains, and the 
name or trade mark of the grower, the grade of the 
fruit, and number in the case should be neatly- 
stencilled on the end pieces. 
Two defects should be guarded against with fruit 
cases. They should not be made of such wood as 
