developed sufficiently to injure the tree. When thinning, one should have an idea of how much fruit the tree is able to bear without injury, and then thin accordingly.

With peaches, the fruit should be thinned to a distance of 4 to 5 inches apart, and where two fruits are growing together, either take off both ar leave both, do not take off one and leave one.

With apricots, get the bulk of your fruit on the spurs along the main branches, and not right out on the ends of the branches, and thin out thoroughly so as to allow every fruit plenty of room. Large plums, such as Coe's Golden Drop, White Magnum Bonum, and Pond's Seedling will also pay well to thin, as also will pears and apples where too crowded. Where the Codlin Moth, however, is very numerous, it will generally do all the thinning that is necessary, and often more than the orchardist cares about. Towards the end of the month the first crop of Codlin Moths will be reaching maturity, and this is easily detected by examining the affected fruit. As soon as the larvæ attain a fair size the bands should be placed round the trunks of the trees, which should have been previously well scraped to destroy all larvæ wintering under loose bark or in crevices of the tree, and all rubbish such as old boards, stakes, or other pieces of timber that are likely to form a shelter for the insects should be removed from the orchard. During the month keep the orchard well cultivated, especially if the weather is at all dry-stir the ground, don't turn it, and it will thus retain the moisture necessary for the proper growth of the tree and fruit. Keep down all weeds in the orchard as they only form a refuge for many injurious insects, and if the weather is at all dry every weed is robbing the tree of the moisture that it cannot do without. Where there is irrigation available the orchard may be watered once during the month if required, but do not use too much water. Use no more water than is absolutely necessary, but give the land all the cultivation (stirring) possible to retain moisture. Examine orange and lemon trees carefully for any trace of the Rust Mite or Maori, and spray the trees with sulphur and soft soap at once if any are discovered. If Red Scale, Black Scale, or Broad Scale is troublesome, spray with kerosene emulsion to which as thick a solution of starch as will pass through the nozzle should be added. This will form a glaze or skin which will crack and peel off when dry, taking the scales along with it.

Spray orange and lemon trees where the orchards have been attacked by Scab, Black Spot, or by the Fungus disease that is somewhat similar in its effects to Maori, with Bordeaux Mixture, made as follows:-Take 6 lb. of bluestone and place it in a bag, then suspend the bag in a tub containing 20 gallons of cold water, and let the bluestone dissolve slowly. Take 4 lb. of fresh lime in a second tub, pour about 3 to 4 pints of water on it to slack it into a thick cream, then add cold water to it to make 20 gallons of milk of lime. Now pour the milk of lime and bluestone water together into a third tub or cask, stir well for three minutes, and you have 40 gallons of a mixture that will not settle rapidly. To test the mixture, plunge a knife into it for a couple of minutes, and if the steel becomes of a brownish colour then you must add a little more milk of lime, as the mixture still contams free bluestone, which is not desirable. Where Peach Freckle is bad on late peaches, a second spraying of Bordeaux Mixture of above strength, early in the month, will have good results. Apple-trees subject to Bitter Rot should also be similarly treated.

Attend to the work in the nursery, see that the trees are kept free from weeds, and that the ground is well stirred. Keep down all suckers-cut any ties that may not previously have been cut, and stake up any buds or grafte

that may be growing crooked. During the month cherries will come in from the earlier districts. See that they are well and tightly packed, and the top well faced, as a little extra trouble in packing often makes a difference of over a penny a pound in the price of the fruit. As these notes have now been written for each month of the year, I think I cannot do better than conclude with the following advice, which is especially applicable at the commencement of the fruit season, and that is to send nothing but good fruit to market, and to so grade it, pack it, and market it, that it will show off to the best advantage, when, instead of being a drug on the market, it will be readily sold, and instead of landing the grower in loss will bring him in a good profit. Fruit-growing to be a success now must be conducted on far different lines from what it has been in the past; the old easy-going lines for fruitgrowers are gone, and the man who wants to make fruit-growing pay must keep up with the times, and use his brains as well as his hands.

He must keep his trees well pruned and judiciously manured-his orchard free from all kinds of diseases, and in the highest state of cultivation; and he must grow nothing but first-class fruit, which, no matter whether it is used fresh, or is canned, dried, made into jams or jellies, or exported, will be a credit to our Colony.

We regret to announce that these notes are the conclusion of the series inaugurated and written during the past four years by the fruit expert, Mr. A. H. Benson, who has now joined the Queensland Department of Agriculture.

Arrangements are being made for the appointment of Mr. Benson's successor, but, in the meantime, we hope to be able to continue the series of Orchard Notes with the assistance of Mr. G. H. Gorman, officer in charge of the Wagga Wagga Experiment Orchard and Vineyard, and Mr. Waters, of the Hawkesbury Agricultural College Orchard.

Farm Notes.

SHEEP AND PIGS AS LAND-IMPROVERS.

The following extract from the Breeders' Gazette has been brought under notice by Mr. A. Bruce, Chief Inspector of Stock.

THE owners of small farms find that they cannot handle cattle as profitably as those who own larger tracts of land. Cattle, too, were more cheaply grown when a large part of our land was yet uncleared. Since the land has been brought under the plough, and the fields have been brought under a three to five-years' rotation farmers have depended more on pigs for condensing their corn crops and have fallen into the habit of bailing and shipping their straw and hay. By this means they have helped out the short receipts from the sale of grains. It has brought a little more cash to meet their pressing needs. The system is very defective, as it is only a sure way of wasting the principal. With the straw and hay go the grain, and these represent for every 30 bushels of wheat 33 lb. nitrogen, 9-3 lb. potash, and 14-2 lb. of phosphoric acid. The straw of this amount of wheat contains 15 lb. nitrogen, 19.5 lb. potash, and 6-9 lb. phosphoric acid. With every acre of hay-one and a half tons-goes 49 lb. nitrogen, 50-9 lb. potash, and 12-3 lb. phosphoric acid.

With 25 acres of wheat the farm loses each year 1,100 lb. nitrogen, 730 lb. potash, and 527-5 lb. phosphoric acid, worth, as these elements of fertility sell in the form of commercial fertilisers, 262-43 dollars, whereas if the straw is kept for feed and bedding, and bran and middlings returned, and supplemented with oil-meal to complete or improve the rations, we can feed these by-products, and the manure is worth almost as much as the cost of the byproducts.

The question, then, of keeping up the small farms where cattle are few becomes a most important one. Sheep and pigs can yet be kept if one cannot handle cattle. Everyone recognises the value of sheep as renovators of soil. Their virtues have been sounded by the flockmaster until all accept their figure of the golden foot. The sheep do well on hilly and broken parts of the farm and seek the knolls and highest points, where the farmer cannot readily carry fertilisers or manure from the stables.

The pig, on the other hand, loves his ease too well and seeks the low land and rich growth beside the water-courses. As commonly handled the pig does not scatter his excrement so advantageously to the soil as does the sheep, but he is the condenser of feed rich in fertilising material and it can be utilised if the farmer cares to do so. Instead of feeding on a hillside or beside a stream, where the wealth will be washed away, feed on the clover or old timothy sod, and arrange the feeding-places so as to take the pigs to the thinnest points for feed. We have a striking illustration of the advantages of keeping pigs on the old timothy sod. Last fall and winter we put the brood sows on an old timothy meadow which is now in corn and

other crops. They were not fed more than a week in the same place. Today the corn and other crops on the meadow shows exactly where the feed was given. The stubble prevented any waste from washing, and the droppings were distributed, and their value is apparent in the ranker growth that follows. The sleeping-places were in an adjoining lot, but this was a mistake. We will improve on that by putting portable pens on the meadow or clover field where the fall and winter feeding is done. We have tried this plan on clover sod and find it the best means of saving and supplying manure. There is as nearly as no waste as can be devised. The pigs have comfortable quarters and fresh ground, and when farrowing time in the spring comes the permanent pens are used and the fields ploughed.

With a little care in arranging the sleeping and feeding places of pigs they will distribute their droppings to great advantage. If, however, they are fed at the same place the year round, and that beside a running brook, they consume the best of feed, and we have only the pork of lower grade, having lost the secondary profit of the business.

On many farms there is little benefit to the soil from keeping pigs, but it not the pigs' fault. Neither sheep nor pigs will do well on bare lots or fields, and there the waste or loss of droppings is great. With corn cheap and labour high we can find profit in letting the pigs gather part of the corn crop. They will waste little of it, and leave a vast amount of fertility behind. If one can provide water the pigs will gather the corn free of charge and leave every particle not made into pork for the benefit of the ground. The saving of labour and fertility makes the old-time practice of pigging-off corn attractive now.

Sheep do well to precede the pigs and clean up the fence-corners, eat up the lower blades and all weed and grass seeds that have come in after laying by the corn. If sheep are let out of the cornfield at night, and the corn stands up well they will not disturb the corn until they have cleaned up all the grass and weeds. By a little care in littering well the pens and lots, and keeping pigs as much as possible on the clover and on the sod land that is to be ploughed we can add to the fertility of our lands and to the health of our herd and flock. If pigs are allowed to run and root as they please they can become an unmitigated nuisance, a damage to the farm, and a disgrace to the owner. But properly handled there is no more profitable stock and none more easily controlled.

Butler Co., O., U.S.A.

L. N. BONHAM,

General Notes.

THE ADDITION OF MOLASSES TO BORDEAUX MIXTURE. MR. C. A. MARTIN, of Ryedale, Tarcutta, sends us the following letter with respect to the preparation and application of Bordeaux Mixture :

"While working under Mr. Sutherland, at Tumut, during his experiments in tobacco-culture, I had to constantly use the knapsack spraying machine, and in the two instruments used, one private and the other supplied by the Government, our constant trouble was to keep the mixture well worked to prevent the sediment settling at the bottom, and to prevent the nozzle becoming clogged. I inquired at several firms in Sydney, but could not purchase a knapsack spraying machine with any arrangement to prevent this trouble while working.

with

In perusing the Kentish Express of 4th July last, I find a letter by Professor H. H. Cousins, M.A., of the South-eastern Agricultural College, Wye, giving a new formula of the Bordeaux Mixture, which not only did away the trouble mentioned, but caused the mixture to remain longer on the leaf sprayed. He says: Our trials at the college last year pointed most favourably to a modification of the Bordeaux Mixture which has three very great advantages over the old form:-1. Saves 40 per cent. in cost. 2. Does not clog or require stirring. 3. Sticks much longer to the leaf. So emphatic was the result of our experiments that I have every confidence in recommending our new formula for general use in the country.

"Instead of using 20 lb. of bluestone and 12 lb. of lime per 100 gallons of water, as in the orthodox Bordeaux Mixture, whereby the copper is separated as a fine blue deposit, employ the following ingredients: Boil 10 lb. each of quicklime (recently burnt) and agricultural treacle in 6 or 8 gallons of water until a creamy brown liquid is obtained; meanwhile dissolve bluestone in the proportion of 10 lb. to 90 gallons of water contained in a wooden vessel (not an iron one). When the lime and treacle mixture is ready, and is fairly cool, pour into the bluestone liquid. In a few minutes a green liquid is obtained, which is the wash ready for use. The chemistry of the process is as follows:Lime and treacle combine to form a compound which we will call sugar of lime,' and adding this to bluestone, which is, of course, sulphate of copper, we get an exchange of materials, and instead of sugar of lime' and sulphate of copper we eventually obtain sulphate of lime. This latter remains dissolved in the liquid, and the copper is thus applied in the form of a solution, and not as a deposit, as in the case of ordinary Bordeaux Mixture. When left on the leaf the green liquid is rapidly turned by the action of the air into a blue powder, and the deposit is not only of an extreme fineness, but is also firmly fastened to the leaf by a coating of sticky treacle.'

I forward this recipe in case it has not come under your notice, and, if as reliable as stated, it will certainly be of great benefit to those who have had the same trouble as myself with Bordeaux Mixture and spraying machines."