Farm and Garden

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 350, 22 January 1903, Page 7

Farm and Garden

oßj&tat. Reticles PLiNTING"aSID CUBING FOB v TEaC;! TBEES. peach tioa requires high, wellWim drained,' moderately' fertile soil* Hs§en v sandy-Joani is. preferable, and of that kind which contains sufficient iron in the soil to give colour to the . fruit. It is desi able in a commercial orchard, where e-fly and late varieties are cultivated, to 1 ave the different kinds planted together in,one place, so as to obviate the necessity of travelling from one part of the orchard to another when gathering the fruit. It is advisable to plant the early varieties in such positions where they rosy receive the fall benefit of the sun; to assist in ripening early, the later varieties are located in those positions where they may attain ripening qualities at the desired time. Most people prefer planting the young trees in spring, as . there is then less danger of their being injured by frost. Before planting the land should be well prepared by thorough ploughing, and if the ground is not too rough lay off both ways with a shovel or bull tongue plough in rows about sixteen feet apart both ways, and thus be enabled to plant one hundred and sixty trees to an acre of ground. If the land is very rough and hilly, wood stakes should be driven into the ground where eaoh tree is to be planted, the holes being afterwards dog with a spade, making the holes sufficiently large to accommodate the roots without cramping. Remove all side branches and cut back the top to about thirty inches, the object being to induce the production of spurs, or small wood, which yield fruit; the adjacent soil should be cultivated at « intervals, and cowpeaa planted as a coves crop, which will prevent washing of the soil by rain, and greatly add to the fertility. This will give an abundance of good feed for hogs, result in the destruction of insects that usually infest the orchard, and produce a good profit on both hogs and fruit. The peaches and peas are both splendid hog feed.

POPULAR PACKAGES FOE PEA.CHES AND OTHEB FBUITB. A study of tho markets in any large city shows a great variety of! frmfc packages. In soma parts the most popular and satisfactory package for strawberries is the thirty-two quart package, of which, it is said, that fruit properly ripened and packed under favorable conditions can b« sent long distances, and usually arrives in first class condition. But the greatest irregularity is seeu in the packing of peaches. For choice peaches, pears, grapes and other fruits packages should be well adapted for the purpose. The crate holds six baskets in two rows, with a rest, or partition, between. The baskets are usually four quart capacity, and the crates are put together in such manner that they can be taken m pieces and pat together again. Tae baskets are co mpleta and ready for use. la some parts a particular basket is extensively used, and in the opinion of some growers it is a convenient package. It is conceded by most growers that for fruit of superior quality the six basket orate is the most satisfactory package to use, For lower grades of peaches the uauil crate or box is used. But the way in which choice fruit is packed often greatly adds to the price obtainable, and in some parts the baskets with slatted tops are very popular, especially so when lined with tarlatan; but of course such baskot packages ara only suitable for locxl markets, and not fir sending long distances. The half bushel basket js also very popular in some parts, and is an attractive package when filled with small melons of uniform size. On the whole it appears that most of the markets demand medium size packages. Fruit growers would do well to caref ally consider the question of packages before placing the products upon the market. For on the mode of packing, if satisfactory and pleasing to the eye, largely depends the price to be obtained.

FERTILISER EXPERIENCE IN ENGLAND. The county of Essex has long been noted for its advanced scientific agricultural pursuits. Recently tha technical committee there concluded a six years' experiment dealing with pasture land and the hay crop. T iosa experiments were conducted in nine different localities, and on as many different- soils, and the neb result shows that b? judicious fertilisation the hay crop can be enormously increased. Fox instance it has been proved that nitrogenous manures—nitrate of soda and sulphate of ammonia—have a greater effect on newly laid down pastures than on old. Thus, one and a half hundred weight of nitrate of soda to an acre of land produced on new grass laud an average increase of fifty per cent. Sulphate of ammonia has, with scarcely an exception, proriujed mora hay than nitrate of soda in th° first years of the experiments, but latterly nitrate of soda has produced the best yield, showing that sulphate of ammonia is the more exhausting to the b >il, and that the other in the long run u the more profitable. Pnosphatic manures also produce 1 a large increase, the average being fifty per cent, with the further advantage that where these manures are used the herbage improves each year. It is, however, when the nitrogenous and. tho phosphatic manures are combined that the greatest results are shown, and the increase obtained from a combination of the two, has amounted to as much as one hundred and tw) per cent. Expsnnieuts were also mad) with ordinary barnyard manure, and the results show that while the increase obtained from each year's' manuring was considerable, very little permanent improvement was effected; and that the manuring of a pro* vious year is only responsible for ten per cent, increase in the hay crop. Another interesting exparimint w vj the mowing of the hay and grazing of sheep in alternate years For this purpaae a field was divided, one half being grazad by sheep fed on oil cake, and the other half by sheep not fed on oil case. 'The result of the hay crop in the following year was that on the part where the sheep were fed oil cake, the cut hay was nearly twenty hundred weight per acre; and where the sheep weie not fed oil cake, the out hay was only fourteen hundred weight per acre. ,