1 Jory, 1898.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 87 
Orchard Notes for July, 
By ALBERT H. BENSON. 
Tne pruning of all kinds of deciduous fruit trees should be completed during 
this month. All prunings should be gathered and burnt, and the trees should 
then receive a good winter spraying with the sulphur, lime, and salt wash. 
After pruning and spraying, the orchard should be ploughed, so as to bury all 
trash and weeds that have accumulated, as well as to sweeten the soil and 
break up any pan that may have been formed by summer cultivations. 
Citrus trees from which the fruit has been gathered should also be gone 
over carefully ; all dead branches or branches with borers in them should be cut 
out and burnt. ‘The inside of the tree should be thoroughly well thinned out, 
care being taken not to open up the head too much. As a general rule the 
pruning of citrus trees is greatly neglected in this colony, the trees being 
lowed to grow into a dense mass, which forms the best possible harbour for all 
kinds of scale insects and a breeding ground for various fungus diseases. Such 
trees cannot be kept clean by spraying, as it is impossible to get the spraying 
material used on to all parts of the tree. On the other hand, when the inside 
of the tree is well thinned out, there is little harbour for pests, and those that 
are present can be reached by spraying. In the Orchard Notes for June, I 
recommended a dressing of sulphur, lime, and clay or fine flour, to be applied 
as a paint to the trunks and main branches of citrus and other fruit trees after 
they have been pruned; and I can only repeat what I then said, viz. :—That 
where Sau José, Greedy, Mussel, or Parlatoria scales of deciduous trees, and 
Red, White, Circular, Black, Mussel, or other scale insects, and fungus growth 
of all kinds of citrus trees are present, this method of treatment is even more 
efficacious than the sulphur, lime, and salt spray for deciduous trees, or the 
resin, soda, and fish-oil wash for citrus trees. Painting the trunks and main 
branches does not, however, do away with the necessity for spraying, as the 
smaller branches, twigs, and leaves can only be reached by means of the 
spray-pump. ‘The best results are obtained by painting the large wood and 
spraying the rest of the tree. Planting can ke continued throughout the 
month. Don’t plant too deep; the depth at which the tree stood in the 
nursery row is the right depth to plant. Cut back hard when planting; don’t 
be afraid that you will spoil your tree, as if you don’t cut back hard you will 
never get a symmetrical well-grown tree, and your failure to cut back will 
always tend to injure the future growth and vigour of the tree. 
Don’t plant rubbish, and only plant those trees that your soil and climate 
are adapted for. Remember that the climatic conditions of this colony, with 
the exception of the Stanthorpe district, are altogether different to that of the 
colder parts of the southern colonies, and that therefore we cannot grow the 
same fruits here in our tropical and semi-tropical districts that are grown 
successfully in the south. I wish to call the attention of all fruitgrowers to 
this very important matter, as during the past few weeks several thousand 
fruit trees have been imported into Queensland from the southern colonies, 
many of which are quite unsuitable to the districts to which they have been 
sent, and the planting of which will only cause disappointment and loss to those 
persons who have purchasedthem. The trees themselves are good, and provided 
that they were grown in a suitable climate would produce good fruit, but they 
are quite unsuitable for the greater portion of this colony. I especially wish 
to warn fruitgrowers and intending fruitgrowers not to plant varieties that 
