-12 
tree's use, as the absorbent properties of 
the soil for water are increased-by the addi- 
tion of organic matter. _ On poor white 
sandy soils mulching is of especial valuc, 
as the heat is radiated from such soils tc 
such an extent as to often scald the trunk 
and main branches of the tree; mulching 
prevents thisradiation. Very heavy soils 
are also greatly benefited by mulching, be- 
cause in dry weather they are very apt to 
cake and become exceedingly hard ; this is 
prevented by mulching. 
Mulching is good for citrus trees of all 
kinds; in fact, there is no better treatment 
for this class of fruit-trees. The operation 
may be done by means of bush rakings, 
consisting of more or less decomposed 
leayes and branches, fine top soil, compost 
of any kind, stable manure, rotten straw, 
rotten weeds, or corn-stalks. If there is 
a difficulty in obtaining suitable material 
for mulching, then it will pay to grow a 
crop of peas, cow-peas, or other strong- 
growing leguminous plants, which should 
be cut when coming into pod, and placed 
round the trees. Leguminous plants, 
besides acting as a mulch, are a valuable 
manure on account of the quantity cf 
nitrogen they contain. 
THINNING. 
No tree should be allowed to bear more 
fruit than it can mature to perfection ; 
hence the necessity for thinning over-laden 
trees if you want to get large fruit. The 
following, trom Mr. Benson’s articles on 
apricots and apple culture, shows how thesc 
fruits should be thinned. The thinning 
of other varieties of stone-fruits is done in 
a similar manner to that of apricots, only 
that peaches are allowed more room, and 
smaller fruit less. Small varieties of plums 
or prunes will not pay to thin. Pears 
should be thinned when necessary. 
THINNING APPLES. 
Where the trees are heavily overladen, 
the fruit should be judiciously thinned, +o 
that the fruit that remains may have a 
chance to attain a fair size and develop 
properly, as it will then be more saleable 
than the undersized fruit from an ove;- 
Jaden tree, and the tree itself will not be 
injured by the weight of the fruit breaking 
limbs, or, as sometimes happens, by split- 
fing the main -trunk, thereby seriously 
injuring, if not actually destroying, the 
tree. 
In the case of many of the earlier varic- 
ties, especially cooking ones, the fruit may 
be allowed to develop to a sufficient size ta 
be saleable, and then thinned, the balance 
of the fruit being allowed to come to 
maturity. In all other cases where the 
trees are heavily laden, and unable to pro- 
perly develop all their fruit, they, should 
be thinned as soon as the crop has property 
set, and there is no further chance of any 
fall taking place. The amount to ode 
thinned will depend on the kind of fruit. 
the nature of the soil, age of the tree, and 
ihe brittleness or toughness of the wood, 
as different varicties of apples vary very 
auch in this. With large cooking varie- 
ties the thinning should be severe so as to 
produce a large-sized fruit, yet not to 
severe as to produce oversized fruit, which 
are usually of little value, being soft and 
coarse: With dessert apples, where a 
~ Jook and sell better. 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
medium-sized fruit—that is to say, a fruit 
not exceeding 3 inches in diameter—is re- 
quired, it is not necessary to thin s9 
severely, but as many fruit should be left 
on the tree as the tree is capable of growing 
to perfection, without breaking down vr 
otherwise injuring it. There is another 
danger from over-cropping that I have 
omitted to mention, and that is the danger 
of opening the head of the tree too much 
by the weight of the fruit spreading and 
bearing down the branches, thereby expos- 
ing the inner parts of the tree to the direct 
action of the sun, which, striking right on 
the unprotected bark, is often the cause of 
sunburn which is usually the immediate 
cause of several diseases, notably scald, or, _ 
as it is generally called, fire-blight. 
GATHERING. 
‘Simple as the gathering of fruit seems, 
it is nevertheless a very important opera- 
tion, and one that it wii pay the growers 
to attend to thoroughly, especially where 
the fruit has to be sent some distance to a 
market, or.where it is intended for export 
or for storing for our own local markets. 
Always gather the fruit carefully, bruising 
it as little as possible, as a bruised fruit is 
always a blemished fruit, which detracts 
from the appearance, and consequently the 
selling value of the whole case; and in the 
case of most varieties of fruit, bruising pro- 
duces an early decay. Even where there 
is a market for the fruit as soon as is 
gathered, handle it carefully ; it will both 
Except in the case 
of early and some varieties of midseason 
apples, which can be gathered and mar- 
keted when only partially ripe, all apples 
should be allowed to remain on the vrees 
till fully grown, in order to develop theic 
full flavor and quality, which will be 
matured by storing. Keeping varieties of 
apples, if gathered when immature, will al- 
ways shrivel ; but early varieties, when left 
on the trees too long, will become dry and 
mealy. Actual experience is the only 
means by which the grower can determine 
the exact time or stage at which to gather 
the fruit, as variety, soil, and climate have 
always to be taken into consideration ; but 
a good*general rule to go by is—gather 
early fruit before thoroughly ripe or it will 
become mealy, but. allow late varieties to 
become thoroughly developed or they will 
‘shrivel and not mature their full flavor 
when stored. 
Pears should be gathered as soon as they 
have lost their woody flavor and have de- 
veloped sufficient sugar. They should 
never be allowed to soften on the tree; if 
so, they will be either dry and mealy or 
rotten at the core, or both. Peaches, 
plums, nectarines, &c., should be gathered 
before they soften. even for the local mar- 
ket. as they are so easily bruised. - When 
required for shipping to other colonies. 
they should be gathered even sooner. and 
only the firmer varieties should be sent; 
but where required for drying, the fruit 
“ould be allowed to become quite ripe. 
The following, which was written especi- 
ally with regard to arytticots, applies to 
peaches, prunes, plums, and nectarines :— 
__ “The purpose to which the fruit is to be 
devoted determines the stage of ripeness 
~ at which it should be gathered. When 
Feb. th, 1904 _ 
required for drying it should be allowed to- 
become thoroughly ripe, but not dead ripe 
or mushy, as then it will not keep its shape 
when cut, and if gathered too green the 
fruit will dry light and be acid, as the sugar’ 
is not fully developed. For canning, the 
fruit must be gathered while still firm, just 
before the softening takes place, or it will 
not keep its shape whilst cooking, and for 
shipping long distances or for pulping it. 
must be gathered even sooner. In 
gathering the fruit do so carefully, and. 
don’t bruise it any more than you can help. 
Use step-ladders; don’t get into the tree 
if you can help it, as if you do you destroy 
numbers of fruit-spurs along the main 
branches or just where the tree can bear . 
most fruit without injury. Some Cali- 
fornian fruit-growers advocate shaking the 
fruit off into large sheets in a similar man- 
ner to prunes, but I don’t like it, as it 
bruises the fruit too much; for, though ‘t 
works well with prunes, which have a tough 
skin, it spoils other kinds of fruit. The 
expense of picking is made good by better 
market returns. When gathered for dry- 
ing, the fruit should be carried in the pick- 
ing-boxes direct to the cutting-tables, so. 
that there is as little handling as possible, 
and where the cannery is close to the 
orchard the same method should be 
adopted.” 
THINNING APRICOTS. 
No fruit requires more careful thinning 
than the apricot, nor will pay better for 
careful thinning, for if allowed to ove: 
bear—a very common occurrence in this 
colony—the trees will produce a large 
number of small fruits which are nearly 
all stone, and which are of very little 
value; whereas, had the same trees been 
properly thinned they would have pro- 
duced fruit of good size, that would have 
been valuable for canning, drying, or sell- 
ing fresh. There are two ways by which 
the fruit can be thinned, the first of which 
is to so prune the tree in such a manner 
that no more fruit-wood is left than is suffi- 
cient to produce the quantity of fruit that. 
the tree is able to grow to perfection, and 
the pruning that I have described in the 
previous part of this article shows how this 
can be done. The second way is to thin 
by hand as soon as the last drop is over-— 
that is, after the drop which occurs when 
the stone is forming has taken place. 
Sometimes this drop is sufficient thinning 
in itself, in which case it is not necessary 
to thin further ; but if too large a quantity 
of fruit has set, then it must be thinned. 
No hard-and-fast rules can be laid down: 
for thinning apricots, the quantity to b> 
left depending on the soil, climate, and the 
vigor of the tree. In some cases at least 
three-quarters of the fruit must be re- 
moved, and even then the tree will have as 
many fruits left as it can mature properly ; 
whereas in other cases only a very slight 
thinning, or none at all, is necessary. The 
more vigorous the tree and the better the 
soil the more fruit it is able to mature. 
The fruitgrower must use his own judg- 
ment in the matter, and if he is an obser- 
vant man he will soon learn how much 
fruit the tree is capable of producing pro- 
perly, and when and how much a tree se- - 
quires to be thinned. 4 . 1 
