Bebruary 1, 1905 
than will pay for the extra care bestowed upon 
it. Then the storing. It is just as necessary to 
-store fruit carefully as it is to handle it care- 
fully. A wise man will only need the hint to 
keep in his store what he cannot sell in the 
market. 
Now regarding the summer treatment of trees 
Mr. Luffman has some very instructive rmarks to 
make in the “ Victorian Journal,’ and we qnote 
hem at length, ; 
Fruit trees of all kinds yield the best 
‘average crops where their branches are 
thinned, stopped, or otherwise dealt with 
from year to year, Auy cutting done whilst 
‘the head is leafless or making no visible 
movement tends to strengthen the tree, by 
reason of the same amonnt of root action 
-as formerly expending its energy on & 
smaller number of branches. Further, new 
buds are possessed of greater energy than 
old ones, hence where sap foroes their de- 
velopment clean and direct channels are 
made for the passage of sap. 
_ The amount of sap circulating in spring 
-and summer, its character and distribntion, 
as seen by the even or uneven growth of 
leaves and new wood, determines how far a 
tree may be thinned and stopped. 
In every orchard of size, trees of various 
form, age, and ‘condition exist, aud no uni- 
form way of pruning at any season may be 
adopted. Nor should pruning be carried 
out during one particular month, but always 
according to the year and the individual 
capacity and demands of each tree. Irre- 
spective of species or variety, where 
branches are far apart, little or no thinning 
-of the leaves and young wood is necessary 
in summer, as over exposure tends to burn 
both foliage and bark, devitalise the sap, 
“dwarf and injure the quality of the fruit, 
and shorten the profitable life of the tree. 
-Summer pruning is therefore most beneficial 
when carried out on strong trees, which 
have their main and secondary branches 
-excessively crowded, and which provide in- 
‘sufficient light and air in motion to secure 
‘proper leaf development, and ripening of 
the leaf-yielding wood. 
Wherever trees of any kind are old and 
hard of bark, growing in exposed and 
hungry soils, or stagnant from any other 
cause, their leaves should not be reduced in 
number during the summer season. Summer 
pruning is helpful and most necessary to 
the young and the strong, since in the 
strong it takes away such surplus growth as 
would interfere with the desired form, and 
encourages growth to fill up parts which 
might otherwise remain bare and profitless, 
It is possible to prune trees in winter 
only, and secure an even distribution of 
foliage and fruit, but it is invariably much 
more economical and sure to prune at both 
seasons, since the tree can be kept under 
control more by frequeut than infrequent 
handling. Further, summer pruning pre- 
vents labor of hand, and waste of energy 
on the part of the tree, whilst winter work 
invariably increases labor of hand, and 
adds to the unfruitfulness of the tree, that 
is, if not supported by summer work. 
Summer work on trees may be carried 
out from the time leaves push out until they 
show signs of maturity in early autumn. 
Between these periods all the new wood 
of the year will be made. Fruit is borne on 
THE AUSTRALIAN’ GARDENER. 
New or comparatively new wood only, and 
the size, chemical nature and general health 
of the leaf determines the nature of the bond 
it will furnish. To keep trees growing new 
leaves must be constantly unfolding, as 
wood doos not extend atter a leaf reaches 
tnaturity, so that where we desire to extend 
the size and vigor of young trees, they 
should not, as they would, be checked by 
summer pruuing., Only in early spring and 
summer is it necessary to deal with young 
trees——rubbing off any buds which unfold 
in bad positions, as on the stem, or below 
Where the main branshes are desired, and a 
little later taking out the point of any extra 
stray shoot, so as to ensure an equal growth 
to its neighbors 
Lo persistently pinch and stop young 
trees in summer shows complete ignorance 
of their wants, and must ever prove a mis- 
fortune to their owners. - ; 
‘Phe more leaves a plant can make and 
maintain the more it will.grow, and growth 
is all that is desired of the young and un- 
developed tree. In a general way trees re- 
quire hard winter pruning, and a little 
Spring and early. summer work in the way 
of thinning and stopping up to their third 
year. After this, if decidedly strong, they 
will require Jess cutting in winter, and this 
chiefly in the direction of spacing the 
branches to’ provide for the lighter fruit 
yielding wood, and in spring and early 
summer such thinning as will provide space 
and full development of the requisite light 
wood. On the other hand where a tree is 
weak, little or no spring or summer work is 
done, since every leaf is wauted to help on 
the circulation of the sap, without which 
the tree cannot survive long. 
As trees come near to the bearing size 
they demand more careful and frequent 
treatment in summer. An even crop of 
weil formed, perfectly healthy, and well 
ripened leaves is, required of sll trees 
before they can yield even and good quality 
crops of frutt, Rapes 
do get the best average results summer 
pruning should ‘be practised at three 
periods. In spring and early summer to 
sweep away any excessive buds or shoots, 
which would, if allowed to stand, choke the 
desired leaves and the buds expected of 
them. Later on—in December and January 
—according to season, region, and vigor of 
trees, more thinning will be beneficial, and 
also the stopping of stray shoots, or in the 
case of the apple .converting shoots into 
spurs, since this check during the hottest 
period of the year invariably suspends the 
circulation of the sap, changes it chemi- 
cally, puts additional pressure on the light 
wood which has been left, and thereby 
forces a weak new growth, which more ripe 
in nature than the earlier growth, forms 
flower buds where dormant or active wood 
buds would otherwise appear. 
Where spurs are made, a leaf or two 
must always remain at their ends, otherwise 
_ they will die through the sap having no 
power of rising toa leafless and budless 
point. 
Towards autumn, normally in March and 
April, healthy bearing trees make more 
growth, which, if allowed to stand, over- 
whelms the leaves and buds made earlier in 
the year. : 
Lata summer growth should therefore be 
removed outright trom all mature trees, for 
it works injury in many ways. In the first: 
place the main crop of leaves must have 
room to vipen themselves and the wood 
whence they spring. Next, the late growtl 
if allowed to stand adulterates and weakens 
the eap, so that flower buds are less liable 
to come perfect and develop fruit, aud fur-— 
ther, the action of the root is disturbed ta 
the extent that it has less power of supply— 
ing the class of sap to which fruit looks for 
sustenance and support. 
Many points in connection with summer 
pruning are not stated here, but enough has 
been said to indicate the principles involved, 
and to afford an approximate guide to those 
who have any natural eapacity for doing 
the work. 
Vegetable Garden. 
OPERATIONS FOR FEBRUARY. 
Unless water is plentiful it is a very diffi- 
cult matter to keep up a vegetable supply 
at this season. Frequent hoeing will save 
a deal of watering, and keep plants grow- 
ing tillrain comes. ; 
As soon as crops of peas, ete., are - 
gathered, the ground should be deeply 
worked and.manured for the reception af 
other crops. 
Cabbage and cauliflower plants may be 
set out, giving sufficient water to ‘‘ settle’” 
the soil round the young plants. ‘ Harly 
Kelipse” is the cauliflower grown by most 
of the market gardeners. . ‘‘ Late Eclipse™™ 
is the latest planted, and some growers 
have an intermediate variety, a cross be— 
tween the early and late. 
Where the caterpillar of the cabbuge 
moth is troublesome the plants should be 
sprayed with Paris green | oz, new lime B 
Ib., 10 gallons water, = 
Sowings of cabbage and cauliflower seeds 
may be made for succession. ascot 
Planting may be made of early potatoes 
for an autumn crop. 
A FUNGUS PARASITE ON THE 
CODLIN MOTH. 
[By D. McAxriyg. | 
Early in October, when carrying out 
spraying experiments in Mr. A. F. Thiele’s 
orchard, at Doncaster, that grower called 
my attention to the fact that numerous 
codlin moth grubs were being killed by a 
white fungus that enveloped them. He 
calculated that as many as 90 per cent. 
were destroyed in this way, and considered 
the disease to be of the nature of an epi-— 
demic. The zinc bands around the tree- 
truaks were being removed and examined 
at the time of my visit, and I obtained & 
number of dead specimens in order to exa- 
mine the fungus which appeared as a dense,. 
woolly covering around the bodies of ther 
larvae. In some cases the fungus grew out 
from the body in the form of slender stalks, 
expanding at the free end, and in one in~ 
