January 1, 1908 
The Ox¢hard. 
Gathering. 
Simple as the gathering of fruit seems, 
it ig nevertheless a very important oper- 
ation, aud one that it will pay the grow- 
ers to attend to thoroughly, especially 
where the fruit has to be sent some dis- 
tance to a market, :r where it is intended 
for export or storing for our own local 
markets. Always gather the fruit care- 
fully, bruising it as little as possible, as a 
bruised fruit is always a blemished fruit, 
which detracts from the appearance, and 
consequently, the selling value of the 
whole case ; and in the case of most var- 
jeties of fruit, bruising produces an early 
decay. Even where there 1s a market for 
the fruit as soon as it is gathered, handle 
it carefully ; and it will both look and sell 
better. Except in the case of early and 
gome varieties of midseason apples, which 
can be gathered and marketed when only 
partially ripe, all apples should be allowed 
to remain on the trees till fully gro nin 
order to develop their full flavour and 
quality, which will be matrred by storing. 
Keeping varieties of apples, if gathered 
when immature, will always shrivel ; but 
early varieties, when left on the trees too 
long, will become dry and mealy. Actual 
experiance is the only means by which 
the grower can determine the exact time 
or stage at which to gather the fruit, as 
variety, soil, and climate have always to 
be taken into consideration ; but a good 
general rule to go by is—gather early fruit 
before thoroughly ripe or it will become 
mealy, but allow late varieties to become 
thoroughly developed or they will shrive 
and not mature their full flavour when 
stored. 
Pears should be gathered as soon as’ 
they have lost their woody flavour and 
have developed sufficient sugar, They 
should never be allowed to soften on the 
tree ; if so, they will be either dry and 
mealy or rotten at the core, or botb. 
Peaches, plums, nectarines, etc, should he 
gsthered before they soften even for the 
local market, as they are so easily bruised. 
When required for shipping to other 
colonies, they should be gathered even 
sooner, and only the firmer varieties 
should be sent, but where required for 
drying, the fruit should be allowed to 
become quite ripe. The following which 
was written especiaily with regard to 
apricots opplies to peaches, prunes, pluws 
end neetarines :— 
The purpose to which the fruit is to be 
devoted determines the stage of ripeness 
at which it should be gathered. When 
required for drying it should be allowed 
to become thoroughly ripe, but not dead 
ripe or mushy, as then it will not keep 
its shape when cut, and if gathered too 
green the fruit will dry light and be acid 
as the sugar is not fully developed. Yor 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
OO 
canning, the fruit must be gathered while 
still firm, just before the softening takes 
place, or it will not keep its shape whilst 
cooking, and for shipping long distances 
or for pulping it must be gathered even 
sooner In gathering the fruit do so 
carefully, and don’t bruise it any more 
than you can help. Use step-ladders ; 
don’t get into the tree if you can help it, 
as yeu will destroy numbers of fruit spurs 
along the main branches or just where 
the tree can bear most fruit without 
injury. Some California fruit-growers 
advocate shaking the fruit off into large 
sheets in a similar manner to prunes, 
but I don't like it, as it bruises the fruit 
too much; for though it works well with 
prunes, which have a tough skin, it spoils 
other kinds of fruit, The expense of 
picking is mide good by better market 
returns, When gathered for drying, the 
fruit sdould be carried in the picking- 
boxes direct to the cutting tables, so that 
there is as little handling as possible, and 
where the cannery is close to the orchard 
the same method should be adopted.” 
Thinning Apricots. 
No fruit requires more careful thin- 
ning than the apricot, for if allowed to 
overbear—a very common occurrence in 
this State —- the trees vill produce a 
large number of small fruits which are 
nearly all stons, and which are of very 
little value ; whereas, had the same trees 
been properly thinned they would have 
produced fruit of good size, that would 
have been valuable for canning, drying, or 
selling fresh. There are two ways by 
which the fruit can be thinued, the firs, 
of which is to so prune the tree in such a 
manner that uo more fruit-wood is left 
than is sufficient to produce the quantity 
of fruit that the tree is able togrow, The 
second is to thin by hand as soon as the last 
drop is over—that is, after the drop which 
occurs when the stone is forming, has 
taken place. Sometimes this drop is suf- 
ficient thinning in itself, in which caso it 
is not necessary to thin further ; but if 
too large a quantity of fruit has set, then 
it must be thinned. No hard-and-fast 
rules can be laid down for thinning apri- 
cots, the quantity to be left depending on 
_the soil, climate, and the vigour of the 
tree. In some cases at least three-quart- 
ers of the fruits left must be removed, and 
even then the tree will have as many 
fruits left as it can mature properly ; 
whereas in other cases only a very slight 
thinning or none at all, 1s necessary. 
The more vigorous the tree and the bet- 
ter the soil the more fruit it is able to 
mature. Tne fruit-grower must use his 
own judgment in the matter, and if he is 
an observant man he will soon learn hew 
much fruit the tree is capable of produc- 
ing properly, and when and how ‘much a 
tree requ res to be thinned. 
In thinning, gather the fruit, don’t 
17 
knock it off with poles. Pull off all the 
smallest fruit.and thin evenly all over 
the tree, not all on one side and none on 
the other Thinning pays well, as 200 Ib 
of good fruit on a tree will sell for more 
money than 600 lb of rubbish, which is 
hard to dispose of at any price. There 
is another great consideration in thinning 
the fruit, and that is that the strain on 
the tree's energies is very much lessened, 
and the plant-fond removed from the soil 
by the crop is very much less, as it takes 
much more out of the land to form the 
stone than it does to form the fleshy part 
of the fruit, because the kernel of stone- 
fruits always makes a heavy call on the - 
soil for phosphoric acid and nitrogen, the 
two principal plant-foods that have to be 
kept up in the soil by manuring. Thin a 
few trees to see whether it pays or not, 
and I have little doubt that you will con- 
tinue to thin, as the increased size of the 
fruit renders it much easier to dispose 
of the fruit, and the extra price obtained 
wlil more than pay for the expense of 
thinning. 
Frast Prize ror Honry,—Writing on 
Noy. 8, the Commercial Agent reports : 
—At the present time we have a fine 
exhibit of honey at the Cookeries Exhi- 
bition at the Horticultural Hall, West 
minster, and I am pleased to say that 
South Australian honey has recoived the 
highest award possible, and the silver 
medal (no gold ones given). This will 
materially essist us in bringing our honey 
before the public, as we shall take every 
opportunity now of advertising this fact, 
Returns 
ARE NOW DUE. — 
FORMS OF RETURNS at all Post 
Offices, 
POSTAGES MUST BE PREPAID. 
FINES and INTEREST are imposed 
upon Assessments of Late Returns. 
J. G. RUSSELL, 
: Commissioner of Taxes. 
January 1, 1898. 
