1 Ocr., 1897.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 351 
Orchard Notes for October. 
By ALBERT H. BENSON. 
Keep the land well cultivated, using the implements described in the article 
on “ Fruit Culture” in this month’s Journal, and, if dry, see that the land is 
well stirred, but not turned. If weeds are troublesome, use the broad, surface- 
working knives, which cut the whole of the ground; but if there are few weeds, 
then use the narrow-cultivator teeth. Attend to the disbudding of all young 
trees, for if superfluous growths are checked now, they are converted into 
fruit-wood, and the vigour of the tree is thrown into those shoots which are to 
form the future branches of the tree. Disbud all vines, rubbing out all super- 
fluous shoots, leaving only as many canes as the vine is strong enough to 
mature fruit to perfection on. 
Sulphur all vines to prevent oidium, as, if there is any muggy weather 
during the month, this disease is sure to make its appearance. Where Black- 
spot is present, spray the vines with Bordeaux mixture, and if caterpillars are 
troublesome as well, then add 1 oz. of Paris green to each 2 gallons of Bordeaux 
mixture, and both pests will be destroyed by the one spraying. When 
using Bordeaux mixture, there is no necessity to use sulphur for oidium, as 
the Bordeaux mixture answers equally as well. Don’t spray when the vines 
are in blossom; but with varieties that are shy setters, it is often a good plan 
to sulphur when in blossom.* . 
The nursery should be carefully attended to; where not already done, the 
ties of all grafts should be cut and the scions should be trained so as to make 
a single upright stem. Where buds have been put in, they should be started by 
cutting back the stock sufficiently to cause them to grow, but the stock should 
not be cut hard back all at once, but by degrees, always leaving a portion of 
the stock above the bud to tie the young shoot to. Plant pines and bananas 
during the month, selecting suckers from healthy plants and from plants that 
are good ¢croppers, and that produce good fruit, as a careful selection of suckers 
always pays well. Continue the treatment for Maori or Rust Mite of the 
orange recommended in the Notes for September; and where orange bugs, 
either the green or bronze, are present, destroy every mature insect that can 
be found, so as to prevent them breeding, as the killing off of the first crop 
will materially lessen their number for the season. Hand-picking, though slow, 
is probably the best remedy, though, before the insects are fully grown, large 
numbers may be destroyed by driving them on to the main branches of the 
tree and sweeping them off with a broom on to a cloth, from which they can be 
gathered and killed. Take every possible precaution against the fruit fly by 
destroying every infested fruit that you can. If there are maggots in 
cumquats or any other fruits, destroy every one, as the cleaner the sweep that 
is made of the first crop of flies, the less trouble there will be throughout the 
season. Where Scale Insects have been introduced on young trees into clean 
districts, every care should be taken to keep the pest from spreading; and in 
cases where the young trees are badly affected, it will pay the grower to destroy 
them at once, as the first loss will be the least. Where leaf-eating insects 
of any kind are troublesome—such as caterpillars of kinds, the larvae of the 
fig beetles, or the false ladybirds that attack all kinds of cucurbitous plants, 
potatoes, &c.—they can be readily destroyed by aspraying of Paris gretn, 1 oz. 
to 10 gallons of water, with lime added in as large a quantity as can be got 
through the nozzle of the pump without choking, as this will tend to make the 
poison stick on better to the leaves, branches, or fruit. 
* The State of Vermont (U.S. A.) has, at the request of the Vermont Beekeepers’ Association, 
passed a new law imposing a fine of from 10 dollars to 40 dollars for spraying or otherwise 
applying Paris green or other poisonous substances to fruit trees when in blossom.—Ed. Q.4.J. 
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