12 
The Oxchard. 
OPERATIONS FOR NOVEMBER. 
By W. J. ALLEN. 
It will be necessary for growers to use 
every effort to conserve all the moisture 
possible, which can be best done by stir- 
ring the ground after rain as well as giv- 
ing it an occasional cultivation, in order 
to keep down the weeds and to keep the 
soil in fine tilth. On no account should 
the soil be ploughed during the hot 
months, as this turns up the moist soil 
which, when exposed to the sun, loses its 
moisture, which under existing conditions 
it is our object to conserve, particularly 
at this time of year. Weeds also pump 
out moisture from the soil which it can 
ill afford to lose, therefore under no cir- 
cumstances should they be allowed to find 
a place in the orchard, but should be kept 
down by a thorough system of cultivation. 
It will be well this season to thin the 
fruit a little more than is necessary dur- 
ing an ordinary season, as owing to a lack 
of moisture in the subsoil it will be found 
that the trees will be unable to mature 
the came quantity of fruit as during a 
normal season, particularly after the 
drought of last year, which had to a cer- 
tain degree weakened them. Therefore, 
if trees have not been cut back heavily at 
time of pruning, see that thinning is car- 
ried out, and err on the right side by doing 
this work so that too much fruit will not 
be allowed to remain on the tree, when 
-the chances are that what is allowed to re- 
main will be of good quality and find 
ready sale at remunerative prices. : 
Summer pruning may be started this 
month, and it is well to go over and re- 
gulate the growth in all young trees, thin- 
ning and shortening back where required 
that is, where the tree is growing too 
thick, and pruning or pinching back so as 
to keep the tree evenly balanced and 
symmetrical. This early summer prun- 
ing is more for young trees, to aid in 
directing the growth to that part of the 
tree where it is most required. December 
and January are the months for summer 
pruning the older trees in order to force 
out fruit spurs and buds. 
In districts where the fruit-fly has been 
troublesome in previous seasons, I would 
recommend growers to be particularly 
careful in picking up and destroying all 
fallen and fly-infested fruits and boiling 
them, in order to ensure the destruction 
* of all larvee which may be contained there- 
in. As this is the only sure way at pre- 
sent known to helping. to keep down this 
pest, I would urge on growers the impor- 
tance of doing their best to destroy these 
larve. 
Keep a close watch on all newly-planted 
trees, and if they show signs of distress 
make a small. basin around the tree and at 
a distance of at least a foot away, and give 
the tree at least two buckets of water; — 
but do not allow this to come in direct con- 
tact with the trunk of the tree. In mak- 
’ the end of the month. 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
ing this basin a little soil may be put 
around the trunk so as to keep the water 
away. As soon as the soil is dry enough, 
and before it) cakes, have the basin lightly 
fork-hoed and filled in. 
Where irrigation is practised a thorough 
watering should be given all trees towards 
This should be 
the second watering of the season. Be 
most careful to keep the water confined to 
the furrows, as wherever the land is 
flooded it is liable to become hard. As 
soon as the furrows are dry enough to 
work, cultivate the orchard twice and 
joosee around any young trees with a fork- 
10€. : 
Every care should be taken to destroy 
the codlin moth which makes its appear- 
ance. about the time the apples finish 
blooming, lay its eggs on the young fruit — 
and: leaves, and, after hatching, works its 
way into the apple, and within a few 
weeks emerges and lowers itself down to 
the ground by a silken thread, and imme- 
diately seeks shelter by crawling up the 
tree and getting into any crack or under- 
neath any old loose bark, either on the 
tree, on props, or any loose rubbish which 
will provide a hiding place. The orchard 
should, therefore, be kept free of such 
rubbish and all trees bandaged at a 
height of about 18 inches from the ground. 
The grubs will harbor in the bandages, 
and these therefore should be removed 
every ten days, and all grubs killed. Pick 
up and destroy all fallen fruit. 
Pruning of citrus trees may be con 
tinued wherever not completed. 
Wherever thorney mandarins show signs 
of cropping too heavily it will be well to 
prune them a little more heavily as well 
as removing some of the fruit from the 
tree so that the latter will not overbear 
and exhaust itself this season. If allowed 
to overbear the fruit will be small and 
almost worthless. 
Budding of citrus trees may still be car- 
ried on. 
All citrus trees attacked by Maori or 
fungus diseases should be sprayed with 
Bordeaux mixture. “ 
_ Towards the end of the month fumigat- 
ing for red and other scales may be car- 
ried out. 
[—Agricultural Gazette, N.S.W. 
WHEN TO SPRAY FOR CODLIN 
MOTH. 
By Gro. QUINN. i 
With October and the setting of the 
fruits upon apple and pear trees in this 
State the codlin moth. begins its season of 
active depredation. Before the petals 
begin to fall from these trees, growers 
would be acting wisely to have their ap- 
pliances well tested and ready, so that no 
hitch or delay will occur when the serious 
work of spraying begins. 
From the results of hatching experi- 
ments, carrie@ out for several years in the 
open air, we know the first moths begin to 
emerge outdoors here in October. On 
the plains around Adelaide the first moths 
were found in the breeding cages during 
the first week in October. No actual data 
is to hand yet, but in the damp, cool 
_ Nov. 5, 1908 
ranges it would most likely be several 
weeks later... I wouiu suggest some of our 
growers in each district place a few 
cocoons in which the winter larve in an 
undisturbed condition are enwrapped, into 
small boxes to hatch. A good breeding 
cage may be made by removing the sides 
from a common cigar box and replacing 
them with fine muslin gauze. These 
should be hung in the apple trees. By 
such an experiment the exact time of the 
emergence of the first moths in each 
locality could be determined. The re- 
sults would furnish an index of when to 
begin spraying, besides tne intense inter- 
est always attachable to such an explora- 
tion into the realms of natural history. 
The moths, for which our first sprayings 
are applied, have developed from the cater- 
pillars which passed the winter in a dor- 
mant condition hidden away in crevices 
and bark of fruit trees, stakes, posts, fruit 
cases, and anywhere else the insect may 
haye secured a safe refuge when it quitted 
the fruits at the end of the previous sea: 
son. I say at the end, because those 
caterpillars which leave the fruits before 
midsummer here in South Australia al- 
most invariably pass through their pupal 
stages and emerge as moths again before 
the summer ends. ‘ 
The first spraying should be given when 
the young fruits are just formed, and the 
second nine or ten days later. Growers 
will require to watch the different varieties 
carefully, as some set their fraits much 
earlier ‘than others, and must, therefore, 
be sprayed first. This, of course, applies 
only to the first and second sprayings. 
The object of the sprayer should be to 
drive the spray into the calyx cup before 
it closes. Later sprayings should be made 
at intervals, 14 days for the third spray- 
ing, and about 20 days between the later 
operations. The grower must endeavor 
to keep the fruits coated all over with the 
spray compound. With the later matur- 
ing varieties it will pay well to keep on 
spraying until the end of February; last 
year's departmental tests demonstrated 
very plainly that a mistake had been made 
in ceasing operations too early. 
In connection with this season’s spray- 
ing I would urge growers to note one or 
two points. In the first place, if Kedzie’s 
formula for making arsenite of lime be fol- 
lowed—and at present we know nothing 
affording superior results—at least 6 lb. of 
fresh, lumpy, quicklime should be used in 
each 40 gallons of spray. There is a cur- 
vent notion among fruitgrowers that as the 
arsenite of soda compound is a clear solu- 
tion, the complete spray, when milk of 
lime had been added, is a solution also, 
and therefore needs no stirring when 
being applied. This is not correct, as the 
compound of arsenic and lime is practi- 
cally insoluble, and, although not so heavy 
or so liable to settle rapidly to the bottom 
of the spray tank as Paris green, it must 
be kept constantly stirred if the most uni- 
form results are to be obtained. The best 
agitating action is one which has a rotary 
or semirotary movement. Thirdly, the 
arsenite of soda and the milk of lime 
should be compounded several hours he- 
fore being sprayed upon the trees. Fur 
