210 
sixatify them in sand during the «autumn, 
and sow in early spring. Sometimes the 
young growths are nipped by frost, and this 
wauses the trees to become bushy; it is 
therefore necessary to train up the main 
shoot by means of a stake for a year or 
‘two. The walnut thrives in many parts of 
Victoria, but it is a pretty gross feeder, and 
thrives best in a rich, moist soil. Of late 
ths trees have been attacked by a disease, 
which is being investigated by Mr. McAl- 
wine, the vegetable pathologist. 
The cultivation of walnuts in some parts 
of America is making great progress. At 
one place, Pasadena, on the sewage farm, 
which is owned and managed by the cor- 
poration of that city, there are 135 acres 
af walnut trees, about half of which have 
“commenced to bear; the yield last year 
was 52,432 Ib., which yielded a re- 
wenuo of 3,250 dollars. But here 
also they are having trouble with their 
walnuts, a ‘disease known. as_ bacteriosis 
attacking the twigs and fruit. It appears 
in black, sunken spots on the hulls of the 
zauts, spreads, and reduces the whole to a 
Slack rotten mass. Whole orchards are 
suficring, and have to be sprayed with Bor- 
deaux mixture. 
~ Although the cultivation of the walnut 
in California has during recent years made 
great strides, there seems to be no fear of 
ever-production. The trees are planted 
40 ft. apart, or 27 to the acre, and each tree 
will bear yearly from 30,000 to 75,000 nuts. 
The trunks of the large trees are 25 ft. in 
«ircumference. The trees commence to 
‘bear at the eighth year from the planting 
of the seed. In England and in Europe 
generally it takes nearly three times as long 
before the trees fru‘t. In Victoria the 
«ommon walnut bears nearly as quickly as it 
aloes in California.. Walnuts are one of 
the most tasty and nutritious of nuts. The 
only fault that can be found with them 
andced is that they are so seductive that 
you do not know when to leave off eating 
them. Melbourne is largely supplied with 
green walnuts from Tasmania and with 
alried ones from Hurope, but there seems to 
ibe no reason why we cannot grow sufficient 
for our own consumption. 
_ SOAP FOR BLACK APHIS. 
A. spray of one cake of Sunlight soap 
dissolved in 2 gallons water is a very effec- 
tive spray for black aphis, and can be ap- 
plied at almost any time without fear of 
Gnjury to the tree. ~ 
KAPUNDA FLORICULTURAL 
SOCIETY. , 
OPENING SHOW 
Wednesday, October 19, 1904, 
€cod Trophy, value £5 5s., for 24 Roses, for 
Professionals. 'l'o be won three times. 
Prize lists on application to the Secretary. 
Subscription 5s, 
A. C, JOLLIFFE, Hon. Sec., 
Kapunda, 
amare we 3 5 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER, | 
QUALITY IN FRUIT. 
By. C. Bocur Lurrmann. 
The smallness of local and’ adjacent po- 
pulations, the remoteness and expense of 
packing, and transit to foreign markets, 
combined with the comparatively high 
price of labor and material, compel the Vic-. . 
torian fruit-grower to work for a high stan- 
dard of excellence in all he cultivates. In 
spite of the efforts of horticultural and 
fruit-growing associations and exhibitions 
very little is known regarding the making 
of quality. Standards are impossible 
when no comparison can be made; hence, 
few realise how inferior is their fruit in 
size, color, flavor, and keeping qualities. 
Here and there excellent samples are’ re- 
gularly produced, but the vast bulk is wo- 
fully below the standard which can com- 
mand a ready sale at a paying price. The 
common. causes of inferiority are not a few, 
but as regards flavor it is largely due to the 
trees being placed in impossible soils and 
climates. Climate plays a much more im- 
portant part in this matter than the soil in- 
gredients of themselves. The dryness of 
the atmosphere whilst the majority of our 
fruits are developing and ripening acts 
seriously against their perfect maturation. 
A dry air is particularly objectionable to 
apples, pears, plums, cherries, and all the 
bush fruits. Peaches can do in a some- 
what dry atmosphere, but where it becomes 
really dry and remains so for weeks or 
months, no fruit of fine flavor will be pro- 
duced. Apricots, figs, and the grape in all 
its forms will attain to good size and quality 
in the driest districts, providing the mois- 
ture of spring and early summer is equal 
to swelling them to a good size; but, as a 
general rule, full and distinctive flavors 
come out in greatest perfection where the 
atmosphere is moist rather than dry. In a 
casual way all observe the difference of the 
temperature of the soil and the air during 
the various periods of summer. ‘The skil- 
ful cultivator will do all he can to balance 
these im accord with the nature and needs 
of his subjects. Those who have eaten 
fruit grown, under glass are aware of the ex- 
quisite flavor of every particle of flesh with- 
in the skin. This igs due, not so much to 
the preparation of the soil and limitation 
of the root range, as to the roots and leaves 
being entirely under the control of the gar- 
dener, who gives or denies air of varying 
temperatures and degrees of moisture. He — 
also provides screens from the hot sun, ex- 
eludes hardening, drying, and chilly winds, 
and all such elements and enemies as work 
injury to leaves and fruit. He also takes 
off leaves or encourages more, so as to re- 
gulate the volume and quality of the sap. 
In briof, everything that would coarsen and 
make irregular ig shut out, and everything 
that will ensure the perfection of size, color, 
form, substance, and flavor are systemati- 
cally striven for. Our open-air conditions 
offer the widest contrasts to those obtain-- 
ing in the orchard-house, but we should not 
lose sight of the object-lesson, provided. 
For yielding fruit of high quality, next 
to glasshouses come walls, then terraces or 
October 1, 1904 
rocky hillsides, since both of them afford 
the chance to control the water supply and. 
provide moist.or dry air for the leaves and. 
fruit. ° We are well-nigh powerless to affect 
the temperature or degree of moisture of 
the atmosphere on broad aind open areas. 
such ag have been most) commonly chosen 
for orchard sites. If our ideals could be 
realised we should have positions and con- 
ditions which would admit of our “turning 
on” hot or cold, dry or moist air, accord-. 
ing as we want leaves and fruit to grow or 
ripen. In all circumstances we should 
know the feeding, the growing, and the- 
ripening season for roots, and leaves, and 
flowers, and fruit, and wood. Few but. are 
familiar with the extraordinary difference 
in the quality of fruits grown in different. 
climates. The pears of Gippsland are bet- 
ter than those grown in warmer and drier 
districts. It is not the soil proper, but the 
differenca in its condition, and that of the 
surrounding atmosphere, which is respon- 
sible for its superior quality. Apples in the 
north, or in any hot and shallow soils, are 
of inferior quality, chiefly because they do 
not get sufficient elaborated sap through 
the agency of one set of leaves, but depend 
on two or three imperfect growths, none 
of which mature sufficiently to assist the 
fruit in its final stages of absorption. 
Tho peach tree will endure a high tempe- 
rature and some degree of drought, but un- 
der such circumstances its fruit will always 
be inferior. Seldom indeed do we meet 
with ai peach, which, from a European stan-- 
dard, may be judged even second class. Our 
fruit is under-sized, unequally formed as re- 
gards the nature of its flesh throughout. 
Thus there are green, bitter, and hard parts 
when the face or upper side is ripe unto de- 
cay. This is commonly due to irregular 
feeding and unnatural heat and dryness of 
ar, forcing maturation in one part before 
the general body of the fruit has been fully 
supplied with elaborated sap. 
And where fruit ripens evenly fine flavor 
is usually lacking, as where the roots are 
sending up an abundance of crude sap (too 
often little more than water, through the 
poverty of the soil). a flavorless and sloppy 
mass is the result. The. green, turnipy, 
and mushy peaches are incapable of bring- 
ing a good price. 
Early plums are usually without flavor, 
owing chiefly to their ripening whilst the 
bulk of the sap is in a crude condition ; 
whilst in hot districts, where the air is dry, 
plums, coming in ata dry season are usu- 
ally of low grade as regards quality. Plums, 
like apples, often lose their first crop of 
leaves through drought or scorching, and 
the second growth is so poor ag to be quite 
incapable of nourishing the growing and 
ripening fruit in the best manner. 
It ig often stated that local strawberries - 
are not equal in flavor to those grown in 
the old land, which is quite true, and with 
good reason. A moist heat is necessary 
to the development of the strawberry, one 
or two dry clear days being sufficient to 
endow it with a fine color, substance, and 
flavor, : 
All variations in size, quality, keeping 
