8 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
Aprit 15, 1906 
the weakest that disease most rapidly attacks. 
So to avoid disease the tree must be kept 
healthy. Especially are leaf-eating insects to be 
kept away from trees : the leaves are the feeders 
of the flower buds, and if they are eaten away 
and destroyed the buds will also perish. The 
peach aphis is very serious for this reason. It 
prevents both flower and leaf buds from open- 
ing well, and distorts tho young shoots. When 
severe it will cause the leaves to fall ata time— 
October—when the tree has need of all its leaves. 
Where it is present the trees should be sprayed 
with Bordeaux ‘mixture (6 lbs bluestone, 4 lbs 
lime to 50 lbs water) in winter, or with tobacco 
water (1 lb each of tobacco and soft soap to 20 
gallons of water) when it appears in the spring. 
Fumigation, when the tree is in leaf, with cya- 
nide of potassium is good, but expensive. ‘To. 
strengthen the tree so that it may throw off the 
disease, mulch the ground with tobacco refuse 
or manure salts, especially kainit or rock salt. 
The pear slug damages the leaves of the pear, 
cherry, and plum, eating away the tissues and 
leaving only skeleton leaves, and so ruins the 
fruit. As the slug has a slimy coat, ashes or fine 
earth, or lime, thrown on to it will force it to 
curl up and fall to the ground, where it will 
die. A spray of Paris green (1 lb Paris green, 5 
Ibs lime to 300 gallons water) can be used where 
the pest is bad, For the larva in the soil, a colu- 
tion of bluestone or sulphate of iron might be 
put into the ground. 
Some of the fungous diseases are dangerous to 
the buds. The peach leaf curl is one of the 
worst. It attacks the leaves as they unfold, blis- 
dering them and preventing them from fulfilling 
their proper function of starting the buds in the 
spring. To remedy this disease spray with Bor- 
deaux mixture in winter after the pruning. In 
spring, as the leaf buds are bursting spray again 
with one-third the strength. Never allow the 
old prunings or infected leaves to lie about so as 
to spread the disease. Some varieties suffer more 
than others, so do not plant them. Briggs’ Red 
May, Crawford and Salway are in most soils 
good resistant varieties. 
Black spot of the apple and pear causes crack- 
ing and distortion of the fruit if it comes early, 
and scurvy patches if it comes later, and very 
often the fruit falls off. Spray for this disease 
with Bordeaux mixture in spring, when the 
flower buds open. Some varieties of apples, 
Cleopatra, Ribston, and Filbasket, are very sus- 
ceptible toit, and should not therefore be grown 
where the disease is bad. 
.Powdery mildew of the apple distorts the 
leaves and also affects the buds. To prevent it 
spreading, burn all prunings and spray with 
Bordeaux mixturein early spring and in winter 
stronger. 
The pear phytoptus or mite damages the 
leaves by blistering them, and thereby causes 
the tree to shed its leaves prematurely, to the 
detriment of the fruit. Spray with kerosene 
emulsion (4 1b hard soap, 1 gallon water, 12 gals 
kerosene) or soft soap and sulphur (1 |b to 5 
gals water) in summer. : 
Oidium or powdery mildew of the vine pre- 
vents the leaves unfolding properly. Dust with 
ground sulphur in the early morning while the 
leaves are moist. 
Black spot or anthracnose of the grape attacks 
the fruit,»causing a malformation in the fruit, 
Vines should be stripped of the loose bark and 
painted with Botdeaux paint (Bordeaux mixture 
with clay and lime mixed with it). ; 
It can be seen from all these facts that a 
great deal depends on the start in life a young 
tree gets, whether it is at homvin its surround- 
ings and also whether itis built up properly and 
receives proper treatment all its life. These 
points decide the difference between a regular 
and an irregular tree, a paying and a non-paying 
one. 
Sorghum 
Amber Cane Lucerne 
Essex Rape 
Globe and Long Red Mango 
And Paspalum Seed 
o000 
Bone Dust 
Bone Super Ammonia 
Ete. Rte. 
Shell grit | Oyster shel 
Bone Meal ... and ... Chick Meal 
F. F. Clement, 
SEEDSMAN 
229 RUNDLE STREET EAST 
Telephone 136) 
GLADIOLUS 
AND 
SWEET PEA 
FINEST COLLECTION 
pee 
IN AUSTRALIA. — 
L. H.. HOWELL, 
GLADIOLI 
SPECIALIST, 
Mount Victoria 
N.S.W 
Catalcgues Free on 
appjication. 
VIEW IN BALLARAT GARDENS, 
—_— 
