176 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. {1 Ava., 1899. 
wants an orange, he wants one with flavour—that is to say, a fruit that is worth 
eating. IT was once at the Bunya Scrub, and asked a man at the hotel whether 
the district would grow oranges. “Yes,” he said, “to perfection. Splendid 
oranges grow here.” I tried a few, and they were simply awful. If you want 
to do anything in the way of orange-growing, get a really good grafted tree, or 
a seedling from the gentleman who has just read the paper. I have bought 
pounds and pounds’ worth of trees that, when planted, seemed to grow down, 
and would apparently take 20 years to reach any height. These are the trees 
you get from travelling tree merchants. I agree that a tree from a seedling 
is the best, but I think a seedling will bear within 7 or 8 years. You do not get 
much fruit the first couple of years, but, still, enough to repay you. For scale I 
have taken some kerosene, put it in an old dish, and painted the tree where the 
scale was, with the result that it disappeared. That is very simple and cheap, 
and anyone can do it. You must cultivate your soil for oranges, but do it 
lightly. Do not cut the roots. Keep the land clean. Orange-trees die out 
soon if not taken care of. d 
Mr. G. Turner (Bowen) : With regard to what Mr. Thompson said about 
Bowen oranges, I may say that I have brought a case down with me to show 
you that we can grow oranges there. [Mr. Turner then distributed a case of 
mandarins among the delegates.] One of our growers, Mr. Hildebrandt, was 
prevented from attending this Conference by the fact that he was just planting 
out 700 trees. He has 3,000 trees, and he expects to ship 2,000 cases this 
season. Altogether we shall ship from Bowen 10,000 cases within the next 
month or two. He tells me he has a good deal of trouble with scale, but he 
simply takes a bar of soap and melts it m water. He then adds two bottles of 
kerosene, and works the whole up into an emulsion. He then mixes this 
emulsion with four kerosene tins full of water, and sprays it over the trees. 
This spraying and the careful pruning of the trees are the greatest secrets of 
successful orange-growing. 
Mr. F. W. Perx (Loganholme): I am an orange-grower, and part of my 
district, Mount Cotton, is noted forits oranges, and after Mr. Turner’s practical 
demonstration, I must say that the Bowen oranges compare very favourably 
with ours. A good deal may be said on the question of seedling »v. grafts, 
but in our district I think it has been proved that the seedling is the best. A 
great deal of injury has been done in the past by nurserymen selling inferior 
trees to would-be growers; and | think, if nurserymen, when selling citrus plants, 
were compelled to give a guarantee that what they were selling was true to 
name, it would do away with a good deal of these petty failures of grafted 
oranges on bitter stocks or on citrus plants of other varieties. As an evidence 
of the superior flavour of seedling fruit, I may instance the case of the Beauty 
of Glen Retreat, which is the finest mandarin we have, and which is practically 
a seedling. In the orchard of Shailer Bros., in my district, which is splendidly 
looked after, until the trees begin to bear, peas, beans, turnips, carrots, &c., are 
between them, which makes the land remunerative until ah time as the fruit 
shows itself, but as soon as this occurs, all other crops are removed from the 
ground. They then, however, do not neglect the cultivation of the soil, and in 
addition they drain and sub-drain. Drainage is one of the main secrets in the 
successful culture of citrus fruits. Shailer Bros. are constantly going into town 
with wagon-loads of fruit, the flavour of which compares favourably with that 
of Bowen. Coming back to the graft question, I think there is no doubt but 
that the graft partakes to a certain extent of the flavour of what it has been 
grafted upon. I remember purchasing 100 trees, said to be mandarins, from a 
nurseryman, and waited 7 years for them to bear. Unfortunately they had 
been grafted on bitter stocks, and although the fruit was juicy and sweet it had 
a bitter flavour which was left behind inthe mouth. I must endorse the opinion 
that has been expressed, that the seedling is the longer liver, the more robust, 
and the better tree for the all-round grower. 
Mr. C. Arrnow (Brisbane): Although a middleman, I have been on the 
land, have done as much cultivation as most, and have always had a great love 
