FRUIT CULTURE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 416, 28 July 1908, Page 4

FRUIT CULTURE.

Hints by Mr Boucher. The first spraying should be for mussel scale, and the best spray is lime, salt, and sulphur. To get the. best results from the application it should be done just when the bud is swelling. He knows of nothing that will destroy insect life entirely, thus annual spraying is necessary. The next spraying should be against the codlin moth, with arsenate of lead, and where it has been carefully applied, only one per cent of life has survived. It is necessary to make the first application as soon as the petal has dropped. For scab, Mr Boucher recommends a spray consisting of 4lbs of blue stone, 4lbs of lime, 50 gallons of water, with of arsenate of lead added, as a combined insecticide and fungicideMuch the same treatment is required for the pear orchard. ‘The trouble with the peach trees has been an attack of fungus on the bark, not any disease at the roots as many people suppose, and he contends that as good peaches can be grown in this country by proper treatment as in the past. He recommends a wash of bluestone and lime, and declares that after that treatment the fruit will show as fine as ever. The parasites imported to deal with codlin moth, he considers, are increasing, but it s not yet known what effect they have. In fact, Mr Boucher asserts, if they are successful it will be necessary to spray for many years to come as the codlin moth had such a start of the parasite. The Californian ladybirds imported are doing good work against the woolly aphis, and he thinks that there is every prospect of this pest being almost eradicated. Mr Boucher condemns people who allow trees to remain in the ground without taking any trouble to keep them clean.

Tobacco water is the best spray for the black aphis on plum trees, but two sprayings are necessary at an interval of five days in order to reach the young soft bodied aphis. The best apples for this district are the Gravenstein, Scarlet Permain and Cox’s Orange all fairly early sorts. The poplar muricata pine makes good shelter trees. The pinus insignis has not any bad effect as shelter on fruit gardens. The peach needed very careful treatment and that is why he recommends tobacco spray. He considers it better to have clean cultivation in an orchard and trees should be 20 feet apart on the square. He condemns white thorn hedges as they are nearly all affected by mussel scale.