meses 
There are many plans for building store- 
rocms for apples; the following description, 
taken from Wickson, being that of a room 
uilt ty Mr. Edward Berwick, of Monterey, 
cre cf tke leading apple growers of the 
coast region in Southern California :—‘‘ The 
ayples are carefully hand-picked into 
baskets, and at orce transferred to ordinary 
epple Loxer—just yutin loose, not packed 
tight as for shipping. These boxes are 
hauled to the fiuit-hcuse with as little jar 
8s pessible. This finit-house is built of 
rough toards (fastened on a heavy frame), 
With inch-thick battens, thus leaving an 
inch airspace Lelween the beards and the 
austic. Itis of two stcries, the upper de- 
~yotcd to tcols and stc1es, the lower used for 
fruit, ard azrarged with shelves accord- 
ingly. ‘This lower story has only an 
earthen floor. One object. of this is to 
give to lodgment for rats or mice; the 
other is to serve as a means of maintaining 
a cool, demp atmosphere. ‘To this end it is 
kept well watered in apple-keeping season ; 
azd tg avoid mildew or mould it is also 
Uiberally sprinkled with ground sulphur. 
_ By day, doors ard windows are mostly kept 
shut, by night open; this, of course, is to 
exclude the heat and allow freé circulation 
#f the cool night air.” 
Of course one does not expect to keep 
autumn apples for any great length of time, 
amore particularly those grown in our 
Bvarmer districts, but in the cool, mountain- 
us country, even these may be kept back a 
little time, while the better varieties of 
— winter apples may Le kept for some months. 
in visiting the different apple-growing 
centres, I find that the great majority of the 
growers sre in favor of a Pests Bill, as it is 
~«laimed that without united action there is 
ut little hope of their ever keeping in 
awheck the remorseless foe of the apple- 
sgrower—the codlin moth—-beeause while 
aeany of the growers may be using every 
known means of keeping it down, there are 
always those who give their trees but little 
sattention, but are most successful in breed- 
ang good «ops of the moth, which in their 
turn relieve these indolent growers from the 
~ evorry of marketing large crops, the fruit, 
such as it ix, being naturally of a quality on 
par with the quantity. It is such growers 
who help to keep the careful, industrious 
smman back. 
So far as the scale diseases are concerned, 
we know that by fumigating or systematic 
spraying, these can be kept in check by in- 
@ividual growers, but the codlin moth can 
«uly be kept within reasonable bounds by 
anited action on the part of all the growers 
wf apples, pears, and quinces. The question 
as, will they work together with the object 
of defeating the yearly ravages caused by 
this pest? 
Wherever the citrus trees are found to be 
covered with red and other scales no time 
should be lost in fumigating them. If the 
grower has no tents, but on the other hand 
hhas a spray pump, he should spray at once 
with either the resin, soda and fish oil, or 
the blue oil emulsions, recipes for mixing 
which haye been given in previous issues. 
The French Prunes and Gordo Blanco or 
vairin grapes will be ripe enough to pick, 
wud in the ca-e of the latter where they aro 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER, 
to be dipped the same strength of lye may 
be used as for the prunes—that is 1 lb. of 
caustic soda to 8 or 10 gallons of water, 
just on the boil; the fruit shouid be 
allowed to remain in this for about two 
seconds, when, if the lye is sufficiently 
-strong, the skins will be found to be 
slightly cracked. If cracked too much the 
appearance of the fruit is spoilt, The fruit 
should never be permitted to become tco 
dry before removing from the tray to the 
sweat box. In the case of prunes they 
should be immersed in boiling water, or 
steamed in a retort for at least five minutes 
before packing ; this last dip is best done 
on a hot day. 
There is one very important work which 
fruit-growers should not fail to do every 
year, and that is to take careful note of how 
the trees, fruits, and vines have succeeded 
under their system of cultivation and prun- 
ing. If too much wood has been left the 
chances are that the size and quality of the 
frnit has suffered in consequence. It may 
be that the fruit on trees or yines showed 
no signs cr il effect from the over cropping 
until About a month or so before ripening, 
when instead of developing and maturing 
as it should, it. stopped growing and gradu- 
-ally ripened without attaining a proper 
size. 
This is a very important matter which 
growers should keep constantly in view, 
and at no time during the year can the re- 
sults of different methods of pruning be 
seen so well as when the fruit is ripening, 
when each variety should be closely 
watched and such notes taken thereon as 
will serve as a guide for the following 
year’s pruning. It is always well to bear in 
mind that trees or vines must not be over- 
loaded if they are expected to produce 
regular crops of high standard fruits, which 
quality alone will always command the 
highest prices on the market, and repay the 
grower best while taking the least out of 
the trees or vines. 
Those who are the most successful in 
fruit-growing have found that they have 
had to combine a thorough system of culti- 
vation with proper pruning and judicious 
manuring to attain these results. There is 
atime when each of these several branches 
of the work should be done, and by neglect- 
ing to properly attend to any one ef them 
certain loss to the grower will inevitably 
follow. 
Codiin moth should still be watched most 
carefully, and all grubs kiJled which have 
found shelter in the bandages; also all 
fallen fruits should be picked up and 
destroyed. 
Winter crops intended for green manur- 
ing the orchard should be putin this month, 
so that they will be well grown and ready 
to plough under in the early spring before 
the dry weather sets in. 
Those who intend planting moro fruit 
trees this coming winter should not be late 
in preparing the soil and putting it in a fit 
condition to receive the young trees. 
Budding young n.rsery stock may still 
be carried on during the early part of this 
month.—‘‘Agricultural Gazette of N S.W.” 
The manuring of orchards is a subject 
which has not received the attention that its 
March 1, 1905 
importance demands. Trees cannot go on 
for all time bearing heavy crops of fruit 
without the soil becoming exhausted, and. 
the older our orchards grow the more neces- 
sary does it become that the best methods 
of prolonging and increasing the produc-- 
tiveness of the trees should be carried out, 
which can best be done by applying artifi- 
cial or stable manure. 
Green manuring is, also practised with 
good results by many of our leading: 
orchardists. Plough the ground as soon as. 
possible after the fruit has all been 
gathered in, and sew with dun peas at the 
rate of two bnshels per acre. Apply | ewt. 
of superphosphate with the peas, this will 
give them a good start and will also greatly 
benefit the trees. In spring time, about 
_the early part of September, the, peas will 
be fit to plough in. First roll them with a 
heavy roller the way the plough runs, also 
fit the plough with a revolving coulter 
when the. peas can be turned in without 
much trouble. Before ploughing the peas 
in, 2 ewt. of superphosphate and 3 cwt. of 
muriate of potash per acre should be ap- 
plied. This forms a very complete manure, 
the peas supplying the nitrogen and humus, 
the superphosphate the phosphoric acid, 
and with the potash the trees will be fur- 
nished with all that they require. Farm- 
yard manure should also be applied where- 
sufficient quantity is available. A good 
dressing of virgin soi], wood ashes, or any 
kind ot litter is of great advantage where 
it can be obtained. rin) 
In gathering apples and pears for export, 
it is advisable to gather them in the- | 
early morning when the fruit is cool. Ad- 
vantage can always be taken of changes in 
the weather to select a cool morning to- 
gather the fruit; on no account should fruit 
be gathered on a hot afternoon, as the fruit. 
then never thoroughly cools down before 
being packed. Fruit packed in a heated 
state never carries well, and is generally 
landed in bad order. 
There is a good deal to be said in favor 
of putting the fruit in a cool chamber be- 
fore being packed, but so far it has not 
carried well, owing to being placed in. the 
ship’s cool chamber with uncooled fruit. 
Where the whole of the fruit in the ship’s 
cool chamber has been treated in this way 
it is very satisfactory, but as in the case of 
our mailboats, the great bulk of the fruit in 
the cool chamber is from Tasmania, which 
has been packed in the orchard, and is, 
therefore, of much higher temperature, the 
case is different. ‘his is because the cold 
air is driven in at a very low temperature in 
order to cool the bulk of the fruit, conse- 
quently the cooled fruit placed in the same 
chamber suffers, and is never landed in 
such good condition as the uncooled portion 
of the cargo. The remedy lies in the whole 
of the fruit intended for the one chamber 
being cooled down to the same temperature 
before being placed on board. 
During the past two or three years some 
of our shippers have had their consign- 
ments cooled prior to shipment, but these 
consignments have not turned out in such 
good condition as was expected, and, ac- 
eording to the sale catalogues, only realised 
moderate prices —James Lang, ‘‘ Agricul- 
‘tural Gazette of Victoria” 
