12 
The Orchid. 
GROWING APPLES FOR EXPORT. 
FROM HOBART TO THE HUON. 
By E. W. Castine in the “Register.” 
The visitor to Tasmania via Hobart at 
@his time of the year is at once struck by 
‘tthe preponderance of the apple industry 
‘@ver all others. As the steamer draws up 
io the wharf one immediately recognises 
the immensity of the industry.. Wharfs 
are stacked with thousands of cases of the 
fruit waiting for the largest ocean. boats to 
relieve them. temporarily in order that 
thousands more may come in. ~ With a 
week to spare in Hobart, we decided to 
have a couple of days’ trip in the Huon 
district, and to that end Monday. morning 
saw us seated on top of one of Rometsch 
and Duncan’s brakes with 14 others bound 
for Huonville. The day was perfect, and 
% should imagine the drive one of the 
most exhilarating to be had in the Com- 
anonwealth. Leaving by the Cascades-road 
we ascend Mount Wellington by twist and 
turn until we are 3,000 ft. above sea level 
and within 1,000 ft. of the top, which is 
usually’ snowclad. . The half-chain road 
made by convict labor in the early days 
is good, and the scenery beautiful. .. The 
hillsides are covered with vegetation, and 
conspicuous among the trees are the im- 
mense bluegums running up 100 ft. with- 
out a branch. ‘Treeferns line the road- 
side in places, and show out here and there 
among the hillside vegetation. Every 
mow and then we pass a_ streamlet 
tumbling down the sides of Mount Wel- 
ington on its way to the sea, glimpses of 
which can occasionally be seen to our left. 
Raspberry plantations are in evidence all 
along the route, and the blackberry grows 
wild in the hedgerows. 
from Hobart. (half-way) we ‘change our 
four horses and mule for another team, 
and with mostly down grades, passing 
numerous apple orchards, we arrive at the 
Picnic Hotel, Huonville, two and a-half 
hours after leaving Hobart. a > 
AMONG THE ORCHARDS. 
After dinner a start is made for the 
orchards and packing sheds. ~The apple 
crop is good, but not exceptional. About 
a mile on the Franklyn-road we call at 
Mr. Shiels’ orchard. - He has 12 acres in 
bearing, and’ expects to pick 7,000 cases 
of marketable fruit this season, .all of 
which he is shipping himself, preferring to 
risk the London market rather than sell 
abt the price offered locally, i.e., 3/3 per 
case delivered loose at the’ packing sheds. 
He also stores varieties which, he intends 
shipping later to the Sydney and Brisbane 
markets, when he expects to net about 10/ 
per case. The trees here are planted 10 
ft. apart, and this is the, rule. observed in 
most of the older gardens. But new 
orchards are now laid out.from 12 ft. to 1 
rod between the trees. Owing to the 
prosperity of the apple industry land is 
almost unobtainable along the. Huon. 
Land that could have been purchased 10 
‘now bringing £10 to £15. 
_in or out of the fruit. 
About 11 miles © 
. _ ‘THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
years ago at from 10/ to £2 per acre is 
The flats are 
not considered suitable for orchards, as 
they retain too much moisture; but hill- 
sides to the summit are utilised. The 
soil is mostly of a sharp black sandy 
nature, loose and friable, and is not 
reckoned second-class by comparison with 
the other lands of the State; but, provid- 
ing a good clay subsoil exists, the settlers 
are satisfied with it for apple growing. 
Most of the virgin land is covered with 
heavy timber and thick undergrowth, and 
costs anything over £15 per acre to clear. 
The whole of it has to be grubbed out, and 
the timber is generally hauled into heaps 
and burn.. Some of the land has also to 
be drained. The apples mostly grown for 
export are the Stronner, French Crab, 
New York Pippin (our Cleopatra), 
Adam’s Pearmain, Scarlet Pearmain, and. 
Ribstone. : 
“i a! Copuin Morn. 
The codlin moth is not much in eyi- 
dence about the Huon, although some 
gardens have it. The growers we visited 
on the south side of the Huon did not 
take it into. consideration, stating they 
were able to keep it in check by picking 
off infected fruit.and bandaging. They 
knew nothing about the arsenic spraying. 
During our week’s stay in Tasmania we 
did not see a codlin moth or grub either 
The moth does not 
appear to breed as many times as. with 
us, owing, perhaps, to the more rigorous 
climate. The pest Tasmanians most feared 
was the mussel scale, but that has been 
overcome by spraying with an emulsion. of 
red oil. . Bordeaux mixture is also used 
for black spot. le oy 
A. REMUNERATIVE INDUSTRY. 
After leaying Mr. Shiels we called on 
Mr. Lomas, who was busy packing, as he 
had undertaken a contract to sell W. D. 
Peacock & Co. his apples for three years. 
Mr. Lomas. was just casing up some very 
fine New York Pippins, of which he had 
had an especially good crop. The orchar- 
-dists reckon the N.Y.P. as the best export 
‘apple they have, but it is not largely 
“grown yet about the Huon. 
Mr. Lomas 
has three acres in full beating, and 
averages from between 1,800 to 2,000 
cases a year off this area. From 500 to 
600 cases per acre seems the average crop 
about the district, and, although on first 
sight this appears an extraordinary crop, 
yet as they plant from 300 to 400 trees 
per acre, the one and a-half to two cases 
per tree is quite an ordinary yield. In 
fact, about the Wattervale and Clare dis- 
tricts of South Australia four cases is only 
a moderate yield-from. a tree 10 to 12 
years old, and on the Skilly, near Water- 
vale, Mr. J..G. Williams has picked up to 
174 bushels of export apples from one tree. 
At 3/3 per bushel (the price Peacock and 
Co. are paying at their sheds), 500 bushels 
represents £80 per acre as a minimum. re- 
turn. Deduct £20 per acre, which should 
well cover working expenses, and £60 per 
acre represents a return that any amount 
of second-class land in South . Australia, 
especially where a good rainfall is assured 
_._- May 2, 1904. 
—i.e., Watervale, Clare, or Wirrabara. 
districts—should return to small holders. 
Close to the wharf against Peacock’s pack-. 
ing sheds an old man has been paid £150 
for the appless on his two acres of orchard, 
and the buyer does the picking and pack- 
ing. 
PackinG THE Fruit. 
The cost of cases is an item rather in 
favor of the Tasmanian’ grower, as these 
‘are mostly obtained near by from the saw-- 
mills at a cost of about 6d. each made up. 
They are solely constructed of stringybark 
and swamp gum, and are very heavy com- 
‘pared with the pine cases used in South 
Australia. The get up generally is not 
nearly as good as the South Avystralian 
cases. All the lettering is done with 
stencils, and has not the neat and busi- 
ness appearance of the printed case. In 
no instance, except for pears in half-cases, 
did we see any wood, wool, or paper shay- 
ings used in packing; simply the apple 
wrapped in paper.and jammed into the 
‘case as fast as two hands can. put it there. 
Should the apples be. higher than the top . 
of the case, the lid is nailed on and the 
apples forced down without any apparent 
thought of bruising. We were told that 
any bruise made on the apple when pack- 
ing simply went hardand black, and did 
not injure the rest of the apple. It is 
only 12 to 14 years since apples have been 
systematically graded and packed here. 
The ‘old style’ was to line the box with 
newspaper and tumble the apples in any- 
how. Mr. Lomas told us he was one of 
the first to pack and grade in the present 
style. He won the first and for several 
years successively the £5/5 prizes offered 
by Messrs. Huddart, Parker, & Co. at the 
Launceston Show for best packed case of 
apples. 2 
Export TRADE. 
Messrs. Peacock & Co. are the largest. 
‘exporters of apples, and are looked upon 
as the pioneers of the export trade from 
Tasmania. They expect to ship them- 
selves over 300,000 cases. They have 
packing sheds at various places in the 
apple centres, and are giving 3/3’ per case 
for all sound fruit over the 24 in. gauge. 
The packing and grading are done by men 
and, women, who get Id. per case, and an 
expert packer can do 100 cases per day ; 
but the average is about 60 cases. - All 
the cases that go back into the gardens 
are immersed in boiling water-as soon as 
emptied at the packing shed, to guard 
against the possibility of carrying pests 
into the gardens... At Franklyn, a small 
town four miles from Huonville, Jones. 
and Co., jammakers and apple exporters, 
have a large shed and evaporators for dry- 
ing apples. They give 9d. to 1/ per 
bushel for clean rejects, and peel them by 
machinery and evaporate ‘them. | Un- 
fortunately for us, when. we were there the 
shed was not open. Steam launches ply 
daily up and down the Huon River, and 
during the apple season they carry a con- 
tinual stream of apples into the’ Hobart 
wharfs. . There are 20 to 30 landings and 
settlements along the river and up the 
channel, at which the launches call, and 
