4 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
Answers to Correspondents 
‘Eastwoodite—Your query re the 
distruction of slugs will be dealt with in 
-our vegetables columns next month, 
EDITORIAL. 
After a long dry spell the winter broke 
in with a deluge of rain. The ground 
being ready for working, the gardeners 
have started operations with the grubber 
-on new ground, and with the fork, the 
hoe, and the rake in the orchard and 
the garden plots. A great deal of new 
ground will be broken up this planting 
for new orchards and extension of old 
ones. Apple growing is becoming quite 
a popular industry in S.A. In several 
districts last season ground that had been 
lying waste to the extent of many acres: 
was planted My with thousands of apple 
trees. 
The nurseries are as full of orders as 
they are of young trees ready for 
this year’s planting. In view of this we 
are printing this month a special article 
dealing with the planting of fruit trees. 
Our author gives some very timely advice 
on the handling of the young tree before 
it is put in the ground. By the way 
‘some laborers in orchards handle young 
fruit trees one would think that they 
were so many dry sticks made up into 
‘bundles of firewood instead of which the 
young trees are full of tender buds that 
are easily injured, and from which treat- 
ment they will take a long time to 
recover. 
It is very often this rough treatment 
that stunts the tree in its early growth 
and the nurseryman gets all the blame 
for its failure. We strongly advise, then, 
that orchardists should keep a careful 
watch over the way men handle this 
young stuff. ee : 
Tn the preparation of new land for an 
orchard too much care cannot be exercised 
in the supervision of the labor put into 
the land. The ideal method of preparing 
the soil no doubt is to trench it 
thoroughly from two to three feet deep. 
This method saves a multitude of work 
in the after years. Too much stress also 
-cannot be laid upon the advantages of 
underdrains which can be very easily put 
in during the work of trenching, But 
this ideal fashion of beginning an orchard 
of from ten to twenty acres is an under- 
taking which very few can afford, either 
in point of time or money, In the first 
place, after the purchase of the land and 
of vermin-proof fencing, comes the 
grubbing operations, which add from £3 
to £5 an acre to the cost. To do thig 
grubbing while trenching is the easiest 
method, but the cost would run into four 
or five times the money; consequently 
after the ground has been made clear the 
plough and the subsoiler must be got to 
work as the next best method of preparing 
the soil. This should be done the season 
before planting, and the ground allowed 
to be in fallow for twelve months for 
sweetening and airation. 
Wewish to emphasize this procedure 
not only for new but for old land that 
may have been used for other purposes, 
because so many disappointing failures 
follow on the haphazard method ‘so 
frequently a opted of digging a hole and 
sticking the tree in it anyhow, and 
expecting a number of such operations to 
grow into an orchard. So much depends 
for success on the way in which a young 
orchard is begun that too much cannot 
be said to impress the beginner with a 
good method, 
The site of an orchard cannot of course 
be got to order and the planter has to 
make the best of opportunities his land 
will allow, but a good eastern slope is 
most desirable if it can be made. 
The selection of fruit trees is another 
very important factor in success. An 
orchardist should always be able to grow 
his own trees right away from the root, 
and shape the tree into a model for fruit 
production, always bearing in mind that 
the fruit itself should be grown on the 
tree where it is least subject to the 
beating of the winds, and for protection 
against diseasos. In other words, where 
the fruit can be sprayed without diffi- 
culty. We have said thus much regarding 
apple growing because we are satisfied 
that this fruit will give better results 
than any other grown. 
While believing that apples. are the 
most generally used fruits we do not 
May 1, 1909 
overlook the value of pears as a product 
that will give better returns as the 
methods of export become more success- 
ful. 
Plums are not always going to be the 
glut in the market that many growers 
have found them to be in the past. The 
improved vyarieties—such as Acme and 
Wickson—will pay handsomely for 
exporting when the methods improve. 
These are well worth growing, and now 
is the time for planting. In fact these 
two months will find hard employment 
for all orchardists. 
Tesla Bont 
Flower gardeners will be too busy for 
idle moments now. ‘The secateurs will 
be snipping away all the surplus growth 
on roses, and all hard wooded plants will 
be licked into shape for the first rise in 
sap. Growers of annuals will find a list 
of everything to put in now to come with 
_the bloom -f the spring, and in spite of 
the ravages of slugs and snails amongst 
the tender little tempting morsels there 
are thousands of cottage gardeners who 
are prepared to take the risks of dis- 
appointments for the pleasures of suc- 
ceeding the 
with beauties of spring 
blooms. 
eae seed 
The vegetable gardeners are being 
catered for by the nurserymen now with 
early cabbage plants, and seeds of all the 
rooted varieties of esculent dinner-table 
necessities. Our articles on vegetables 
will be read with interest this month. 
tecipoat 
On the farm the piough is going hard 
for seeding operations, and the season 
has opened most auspiciously in this 
respect. The country land boom, t? 
which we refer in another column, is still 
There is plenty of money in the 
country, now, and farmers’ sons ave 
looking about them for properties to start 
on their own account. 
taxation t 
- Dairy farming and poultry raising at 
still on the increase, but these at? 
einployments that require special liking 
as well. as knowledge to make them £ 
success. No man, or woman either, W3 
ever make a success of dairy farming i 
hey have not a special liking for the 
animals themselves, 
strong. 
