HOW TO GEOW EEUIT. 
705 
which fruit trees are grown, and the abundant crops they bear, even 
with indifferent attention and cultivation, being mainly accountable 
for the unsatisfactory and dirty condition in which so many of our 
orchards are kept. Now, however, what with much lower prices and 
the large amount of loss that is caused by the ravages of insect and 
fungus pests, fruit-growers are beginning to devote more careful 
attention to their business. New and improved methods of cultivation 
are being slowly adopted ; the important questions of manuring and 
drainage are being studied ; worthless varieties of fruit are either 
being taken out or worked over with high-class fruits ; and diseases 
are being fought, in many cases with very beneficial results. 
It will thus be seen that a great change is slowly taking place in 
our fruit industry, and that though its effects are not yet very 
apparent, it is only a question of time when the obsolete method of 
fruit culture commonly adopted by Australian fruit-growers will 
become a thing of the past, and fruit culture will be raised to its 
proper level, and that is a position second to no other branch of 
scientific agriculture. 
Having now shown the position that fruit-growing should occupy 
by right, 1 will try and show ill as concise a form as possible how this 
position may be attained, and in order to do this I purpose dividing 
my subject into four branches, as follow : — 
1st. How to Start an Orchard. 
2nd. How to Plant and what to Plant in an Orchard. 
3rd. How to Look after an Orchard. 
4th. How to Utilise and Market Fruit. 
HOW TO START AN ORCHARD. 
The first consideration of anyone about to plant an orchard is 
naturally — What shall I plant ? and having decided on the kind or 
kinds of fruit to be grown, the second consideration is — Where shall 
I grow them ? 
It is impossible to devote too much attention to these primary 
considerations, as the ultimate success of the orchard depends largely 
on its being properly started. No fruit should ever be planted in an 
unsuitable soil or situation when there are any quantity of suitable 
sites available, even iu our oldest fruit-growing districts ; neither should 
any fruit be planted that will not grow to the greatest perfection, 
except a small quantity required for home use, or to supply a purely 
local demand, as it will not pay to attempt to grow any fruits in 
quantity that can be produced elsewhere, under more favourable 
conditions, of a superior quality and at a lower rate. 
In selecting a site for an orchard, climate, soil, situation, drainage, 
rainfall, shelter, water, and market facilities have all to be taken into 
consideration, but their relative value depends largely upon the class of 
fruit that it is proposed to cultivate ; thus water, which is of paramount 
importance in the dry interior, is only of secondary consideration on 
our tropical and semi-tropical seaboard, with its usually regular and 
heavy rainfall. 
As to climate, we have anything that one may wish for, from tropical 
to temperate, and as a consequence we can grow to perfection within 
these colonies practically the whole cultivated fruits of the world, in 
