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Fruit Culture in Queensland, 
By ALBERT H. BENSON, 
yovernment Fruit Expert. 
In the previous part of this paper the importance of selecting a suitable 
soil, site, and shelter for the orchard was pointed out, and particular emphasis 
was placed on the fact that, in order for fruit culture in Queensland to be a 
commercial success, it must be carried out on the most approved lines and 
under the most favourable conditions, and that no fruits should be grown on 
an extensive scale unless they are thoroughly adapted to the soil, climate, or 
district in which they are planted. A maxim in fruit culture is to grow in 
your soil and district only those fruits which you can grow to perfection and 
at a minimum of cost, and to let others grow those varieties that they can 
grow better and cheaper than you. The intending fruit-grower having now 
selected a site for his orchard having the necessary qualifications of suitable 
soil, shelter, situation, and accessibility to markets or good facilities for 
transporting the crop when grown, the next consideration is— 
THE PREPARATION OF THE LAND. 
There is an old adage to the effect that, if it does not pay to do a thing 
well it certainly will not pay if done badly. This is especially applicable to 
fruit culture, particularly so in the preparation of the land for an orchard, as 
it is impossible to prepare the land too well. Remember that planting an 
orchard is not like planting a field of wheat or any other ordinary farm crop 
that only occupies the land for a few months, but that an orchard once planted 
and properly cared for will last many years, if not a lifetime; and that, if the 
preparation of the land has been neglected in the first place, there is no 
opportunity of making it good once the trees are established. 
The first operation in the preparation of the land for an orchard, if the 
site chosen is virgin forest or other uncleared land other than scrub, is to clear 
it; and whatever system of clearing is adopted, it shouid be a thorough one, — 
and all stumps and roots should be taken out to a depth of 18 inches to 
2 feet. In the case of scrub land, however, this is neither necessary nor 
desirable, as it would be avery expensive undertaking; the better plan being 
to fell all undergrowth and timber, burn this off when dry, and then plant 
bananas, sugar-cane, or corn (maize)—according to locality— between the 
stumps, which will rapidly rot out, so that they can be easily and cheap_y 
removed in the course of three or four years. The crops grown on the land 
will have tended to sweeten it; and as many scrub soils are of extreme rich- 
ness, they are all the better for being somewhat reduced, as excessive richness 
in the soil is apt to produce an abnormal growth in all fruit trees planted in 
it, and this abnormal growth is not, as a rule, conducive to the production of 
high-class fruit. 
With forest land it is a great advantage to have had the timber ring- 
barked for some years before clearing, as, this tends to sweeten the land and 
greatly reduces the cost of clearing ; but where this is impracticable, no suitable 
ringbarked land being available, then the clearing should be done some 
months before the land is required for planting. Where the timber is small, it 
may be cleared most economically by means of a forest devil or by a good team 
of bullocks. Even where the trees are of fair size, say up to three or four feet 
in diameter at the base, they can be easily pulled down by a good team of 
-bullocks, provided that the ground is well opened up round the base and the 
