August 2 1909 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
The Orchard 
Operations for August. 
Prepare ground at once for planting 
lemon and orange trees. Manure must 
‘be used liberally, or no good results must 
be expected. As arule the ground should 
be trenched two feet deep and the manure 
worked evenly down from top to bottom 
as it is a serious mistake to throw it into 
Care must also 
‘be taken to provide free drainage when 
planting in low situations, because a 
stagnation of water at the roots is 
‘disastrous to these trees, although a 
liberal supply of water must be provided 
to carry them through the months of 
January to April. After trenching, the 
ground should be left a week or two to 
the trenches in masses. 
‘consolidate, so that it may be in a 
good, firm condition by the middle of 
‘September, when the trees may be 
‘planted. Young orange trees should be 
‘manured and forked around, and after- 
wards mulched with a good coat of half- 
‘decayed stable manure. Older trees wily 
now be in full bearing, and it is difficult 
to cultivate amongst them until the crop 
is removed, but as the fruit from each tree 
is gathered no time must be lost in 
manuring the trees and forking amongst 
the roots. Scale sometimes attacks the 
trees in a serious manner, but this is 
readily destroyed by spraying once or 
twice with soapy water in which a little 
kerosene has been mixed. Two ounces 
of soap dissolved in a gallon of water and 
a gill of the oil, kept well stirred, will 
generally cleanse the trees at the second 
application. - 
mixture is even better, 
_with either of these solutions will show 
a1 
Now is a good time to manure amongst 
apricots, peaches and nectrines. Well- 
decayed stable manure is the best 
fertiliser for these trees, but bonedust 
may be substituted where no lime exists 
in the soil. Loquat trees may be 
The ground should be trenched 
and well manured, and they should be 
planted in quarters by themselves rather 
than be mixed up with other kinds of 
fruits; old trees should be well pruned: 
severely thinning out the branches and 
twigs, if superior fruit is desired. Loquat 
stones may be sown in nursery beds. 
planted. 
—Gra.ting and Budding,— 
The latter part of this month is a good 
time to start the grafting of deciduous 
nursery stock, and should there be any 
unprofitable apple, pear, or other trees 
standing in the orchard, these also may 
be grafted to good varieties. Grape-vines 
are easily grafted just as the buds are 
well swollen and about to burst. -Old 
peach, plum, and apricot trees will be 
found much harder to graft than either 
apple or pear trees. If, however, there 
are any such in the orchard which are 
unprofitable, it would be as well to eut 
them back and graft to better varieties, aud 
in the event of the grafts not tak- 
ing, young shoots might be allowed to 
grow and buds inserted either in the 
summer or fall. 
—Spraying.— 
Besides the above work there is the 
winter spraying with the salt sulphur, and 
lime solution, which will kill two birds 
with one stone, being both an insecticide 
and afungicide. It answers fairly well in. 
keeping in check the curl leaf of the peach 
tree, but for this latter disease Bordeaux 
Trees treated 
very little curl. 
—San Jose Scale.— 
The lime, sulphur and salt is one of 
the best sprays we have for San Jose 
scale, but where trees are badly infested 
it is best to give two aprayings, one in the 
fall and another in the spring, just as the 
leaf buds begin to swell and the trees are 
in blossom. ~ 
® 
—Aphis.— 
For peach aphis the resin and soda is a 
good useful spray, as is also the blue oil 
emulsion, but it usually takes several 
applications to this 
check. | 
At time of pruning, particularly in 
young orchards, a sharp lookout should 
be kept for the appearance of woolly 
aphis, and should any trees be found in- 
fested, they should be carefully pruned, 
removing and burning as many of the 
infested twigs as possible. Then either 
scrub the trees thoroughly with a strong 
kerosene emulsion, or fumigate with 
hydrocyanic acid gas, so as to eradicate 
this pest if possible. 
keep pest in 
—Codlin Moth— 
All old bark should be scraped from 
apple, pear, and quince trees, and the 
scrapings burnt, and every thing in the 
orchard which is a harbor to codlin moth 
must be destroyed. 
In this State, the arsenate of soda spray 
has given good results. It is prepared as 
follows:—1 lb.-of best arsenic and 2 lb. of 
washing soda boiled in 1 gallon of water 
for about three-quarters of an hour or 
until the mixturo is clear. Then add a 
pint of the stock solution to 40 gallons of 
water to which has already been added 
from 6 to 8 Ib. of best freshly-slaked 
lime; if this latter precaution is ne- 
glected, the result will be that the spray 
will seriously burn the foliage. Some 
varieties of apple-trees are much more 
tender than others; for these use the 
larger quantity of lime. The arsenic is 
much cheaper than Paris Green, and when 
bought in quantities shonld not cost 
more than about one-third as much per 
lb. 
—Clean Fruit Houses.— 
Keep all fruit houses as clean as 
possible, ag there is no doubt that they 
are responsible for harboring a great 
many moths every year; therefore keep 
the rooms as air tight as possible and as 
soon as the moths begin to hatch in. the 
spring, burn sulphur fumes in the rooms 
once every other day for a fortnight, so 
that the moths may be destroyed as they 
begin to fly. 
