1 Jan., 1898.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULDURAL JOURNAL. $3 
Orchard Notes for January, 
By ALBERT H. BENSON. 
Tun Orchard Notes for the month of ‘December apply equally to that of 
January, especially the remarks anent the handling and marketing of fruit 
and the treatment of various fruit pests. The fruit of the monthis the grape, 
and growers should take every care to market this fruit properly. he fruit 
should be cut when dry and cool before the heat of the day, and should be 
firmly packed into cases of moderate size, as if the grapes are at all tender 
they are apt to be badly crushed if packed in too large cases. For shipping 
high-class grapes such as Black Muscat of Alexandria, White Muscat of 
Alexandria, Waltham Cross, or even Raisin de Dames, I strongly advise growers 
to use 5-lb. chip baskets, eight or ten of which yo to a crate, as the 
fruit carries better in them and will reach its destination with the bloom on if 
well packed and carefully handléd. The fruit should be sold in the chip 
basket, so that the purchaser gets the grapes as packed in the vineyard and 
without being handled by the retailer. his method of packing grapes is 
. common in California, especially where the fruit has to be shipped long distances ; 
and as our best grapes here come from the Roma and Mitchell districts, and are 
often more or less damaged in transit, it should be of value to us in that it 
would enable the fruit to be marketed in a better and fresher condition than is 
the case at present. 
T do not think such chip baskets are obtainable in Queensland, but if not 
they could be easily introduced, as they are now coming into regular use in 
Melbourne. | 
Mangoes will also be ripening in the Southern part of the colony towards 
the end of the month, and | strongly advise if any are to be shipped to the 
Southern colonies that none be sent unless they are of good quality, as the 
cearrot-flavoured stringy rubbish that has been sent in the past has simply killed 
the demand for mangoes in the Southern markets, and it will be impossible to 
open up a trade for our fruit there unless it is of good quality, and this good 
quality must be maintained. As there is a great deal of uncertainty as to what 
constitutes a good mango, I may say briefly that a good mango should be 
fibreless or nearly so, and should have no pronounced unpleasant flayour of 
carrots or turpentine, but should be either a luscious high-flayoured fruit or 
a juicy, good-flavoured, sprightly fruit. ‘Too large mangoes are not an 
advantage, a round mango of 6 to 8 oz. weight being about the best size 
and shape for packing and carrying. 
As no record or description of Queensland-grown mangoes has ever been 
published that I am aware of, and as there is considerable uncertainty as to the 
best varieties of mangoes to grow, I would be glad to receive samples of the 
fruit and foliage of any mangoes that the grower may consider to be of special 
merit, with a view to making drawings of and keeping a complete record of 
same, so that we may have reliable information as to the best varieties of 
mangoes in the colony, and know which are best to propagate. In addition to 
sending the fruit and foliage, I would be glad for the grower to supply informa- 
tion respecting the source from which the tree producing the fruit was derived, 
the nature and habit of growth of the tree, whether it is a good or bad cropper, 
and the class of soil it is growing in. 
