a 
December 1, 1904 
The Oxchas‘d. 
OPERATIONS FOR DECEMBER. 
a ee 
Br W. J. Atren, 
Cherries, apricots, and peaches will be 
plentiful this month, and most of the 
cherries will find ready sale for dessert 
purposes ; some will be converted into jam. 
Marly peaches are valueless for jam-making, 
but are excellent for dessert, and are good 
when stewed. Apricots, though suitable 
ior dessert, and used largely for that pur- 
pose, find ready sale at the jam factories, 
where they are canned, pulped, or made 
into jam. In our drier and warmer districts 
the fruit is generally dried, and put upon 
the market in this shape—1! 1b. of the dried 
product being equal to from 43 to 7 lbs. of 
fresh fruit according to the variety dried. 
When used for this latter purpose the 
fruit should be allowed to ripen well before 
picking, but it must be handled before it is 
30 ripe that it will mash up when handling. 
The best dried fruit is that made from the 
wipe fruit. In drying, the operator must 
ase that the fruit is kept clear of dust, as 
any dust falling on this or any newly-cut 
fruit will adhere to it and spoil it, therefore, 
“whenever possible, use a lucerne paddock 
for drying, or, in any case, keep as far 
away as possible from dust and sand. 
As soon as the fruit is quite tough, and 
has lost most of its moisture, it should be 
taken from the trays and put in calico bags, 
and securely tied in order to keep the moths 
ont. When packing them for the market, 
ee that they are graded and packed in neat 
boxes which have been lined with paper. 
In the drier districis where irrigation is 
practised it will be found necessary to water 
ail trees, vines, lucerne, or any other crops 
this month, and be sure to work up the 
ground as soon as it is dry enough to allow 
the horses and cultivator on the land. 
All orchard land should be kept free from 
weeds, and to accomplish this the horses 
and cnitivators should have but little rest 
this month, as an orchard neglected for a 
few days will soon be covered with a coat- 
ing of summer grass which will take many 
ahard day's work to eradicate, and couch 
§tass spreads rapidly when left undisturbed. 
Where there are bad patches of couch grass 
these should be ploughed up and harrowed 
bn 4& very hot day, as the roots soon die 
exposed to the sun. 
Passion vines, which baye been properly 
pruned and manured during November, 
will now be putting on good growth and 
blooming freely. This fruit will be ready 
to meet the demand at Easter, when it 
usually finds a ready sale at good prices, 
Keep a strict outlook for pests, and if 
trees have not been fumigated or sprayed, 
as the case may be, the grower should lose 
no time before beginning to fight them, 
For scales on citrus trees, December, 
January, and February are good months 
for either spraying or fumigating; but for 
fungus diseases it is generally best to spray 
once before the trees bloom, again as soon 
as the fruit has set, rather than leaving it 
mntil now. In many cases, however, later 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
sprayings ate both beneficial and necessary. 
The grower should not neglect to either 
fumigate or spray all citrus trees'so as to 
ensure clean fruit and healthy trees. 
Keep a strict watch over all bandages 
placed on apple, pear, and quince ‘trees. 
‘They should ‘be overhauled, end ‘all larveo 
destroyed at least once every ten days ; also 
pick up and destroy all fallen fruit. 
If fruit fly should make its appearance, 
all infested fruit should be destroyed so as 
to assist as far as possible in keeping this 
pest in check. 
— 
LIME AS A SOIL IMPROVER. 
The failure of a soil to give remunerative 
returns may be due to various causes, such 
_as absence of soluble plant food, improper 
cultivation, or the unfayorable mechanical 
texture. The latter condition is a very 1m- 
portant one, for, although the soil may be 
rich in plant constituents, it is nevertheless 
imperative that, in order to secure the best 
results, it must be brought into a state most 
favorable for the crop to be grown. This 
means that the mechanical condition must 
be such as to allow the plant roots to ramify 
unhindered through every inch of soil in 
their search after food. 
There are many soils, especially those of 
sticky, clayey nature, which it is not always 
an easy matter to get into such a condition. 
In a dry time they get hard, something 
after the consistency of a brick, and are 
very liable to crack. In wet weather they 
get boggy, and often remain in this condi- 
tion for some considerable time. When in 
this state, to cultivate or even keep down 
the weeds is no easy matter, consequently 
they stand at a great disadvantage com- 
pared with soils of a more friable nature. 
Another feature of many soils is that they 
are of a cold, sour nature, and, unless 
thoroughly cultivated and exposed to the 
sweetening influence of the atmosphere for 
some considerable time, poor results are 
sure to result. - : ; 
In the older countries, when dealing with 
refractory soils, farmers often find it advan- 
tageous to bring to their assistance what 
may be termed special soil improvers. Of 
these there are two. that stand out pre-emi- 
nent, viz., farmyard manure and lime. 
Both have their special uses and advan- 
tages, but it is to the part the latter plays 
in relation to soil fertility that I would 
specially draw attention. é 
The practice of using lime in connection 
with agriculture is a very old one, and I 
believe that the benefits derived from liming 
are yet but dimly recognised and the prac- 
tice seldom adopted. ‘The scientific name 
for lime is calcium. ‘The usual way to ob- 
tain lime is to burn limestone (which 18 
carbonate of lime) for about two days in 
wide-mouthed kilns. The heat expels water 
and carbonic acid from the limestone, con- 
verting it into calcium oxide, or, as it is 
more commonly termed, quicklime, ‘This 
expulsion is worth remembering, as on the 
first opportunity lime takes in the water 
and carbonic acid driven out during the — 
burning process, and gives out the heat 
received in the kiln, The effect this has on 
the soil will be seen later on. Other car- 
Ez 
bonates of lime-are:fonnd besides limestone, 
such as:chalk.(called.whiting: when gronad), 
coral, ‘marble,oyater-shells, and shell sand. 
Lime derived from: the latter.genorally con- 
tains too much. sand to be of any great 
value for agricultural :purposes, unless /pre- 
cured at a very cheap rate. 
-- Such. lime is a. hard, ‘heavy substance, 
greedy of both water and carbonic acid. At 
absorbs large quantities .of water . without. 
becoming wet, and crackles.and hissesand _ 
behaves in a life-like manner; hence the 
name of quicklime. ivin 
..Slaked dime isa powerful alkaline sub- 
stance used in many ways. -Mixed ‘with 
sand and water, it forms the mortar used 
for building purposes. 
In agriculture lime is generally put on 
the land at the rate-of one to five tons per 
acre. Finely pounded lime unslaked is 
sometimes applied, and in this form pro- 
duces more powerful effects, Lime ought 
to be harrowed into the soil immediately it 
is applied, so as to cover it up from the air, 
from which it would absorb carbonic acid 
gas and speedily.be converted into carbon- 
ate of lime. When covered up by: the-soil 
it takes the carbonic.acid from the decaying 
vegetable matter or humus, hastening »the 
process of decay, and thus liberating 
hydrogen and nitrogen. This is rather im- 
portant, as :when «the liberation of both. is 
simultaneous-and slowly effected they unite 
in proportion of 3 of hydrogen to 1 of 
nitrogen, forming ammonia—a very valu- 
able plant fertiliser. : Unfortunately, there. 
are conditions under which this formation is 
not always certain to result, such as lack. of 
moisture, so that lime may sometimes 
destroy the vegetable matter in the soil to 
no good purpose. . 
Sone arises Caney farmers in the oid 
country discovered that great crops of grain 
could be grown by the aid of lime, snd 
they used it unsparingly, even althoug! 
they had in many instances to convey it 
from great distances. For a time ghey 
succeeded in producing heavy crops, De- 
cause the soil was full of manure and 
humus, but by and by they found that lime 
had ceased to work miracles, and, though 
some people tried to make it do what it. 
once had done by doubling the quantity 
applied, it came to be admitted that ime 
had not the beneficial effect it once bad: 
Later on it was found out that, beyon 
supplying the small quantity of lime neePs 
sary for the growth ot plants in enileye ere 
it naturally was deficient; the lime ie q aan 
decomposing all the vegetable ane Shain? 
only store of nitrogen 1m the soi snon F 
it had now nothing in it but ate os > 
viz., lime, phosphoric acid, and Wie , oe. 
Though the lime did not SOPe a fs Be. 
nitrogen to the soil, yet it pro nea oe 
every ton applied, much the Bare nee 
the application of so many hun Reuter 
Series ae Santon of the soil, 
i nee in srs 
Re, grown by the application of 
: by the application of 
SOE Os) a Hats of ammonia was, 
nitrate of soda or sulp 
however, very great. In the oes 
soil had to grow a heavy crop au owe 
expense ; on the other the Cera att ue 
by aid of the plant food in ae 
supplied. ‘This action is, no aoudt, 
