The Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales

slightest need for us to import a single pound weight of any sort of fruit from any other country if growers were only forthcoming.

The peach known as Briggs' Early May and its relations, which are so much alike that it would require an extraordinary eye to detect the difference, should be ripe and eatable. Brigg's Early May has an objectionable habit of frequently ripening on one side, whilst the other side remains as hard as a brick. Governor Garland, which fruited in the nursery at Wagga Wagga last year, is said to ripen much earlier than Briggs' Early May. It is a good-flavoured peach, and seems to ripen evenly.

Attention should be given to bandages which are tied round fruit-trees as traps for the larvae of codlin moths. This tying of bandages of sacking, straw, or other material is a most necessary precaution, which should be taken by everyone who has an orchard. And another important matter to attend to is the gathering, and destroying by boiling, of all fallen apples or pears. By spraying, when the fruit sets, with Paris green, and by bandaging and destroying all fallen fruit, the codlin moth can be kept so much in check as to cause but little damage. Such has been proved by those who have

carried out the proper methods of destruction.

Many orange-growers have suffered lately-indeed, they are always suffering, more or less-from the objectionable sooty fungus which covers, not only the leaves of the orange trees, but the fruit as well. References are made to me personally time after time, and it is difficult to make many, who bring their sooty-looking oranges, understand that the chief cause of this nuisance is the orange scale or scales.

Some ten years ago Mr. D. M. Maskell, F.R.M.S., of New Zealand, in his work, "Insects Noxious to Agriculture and Plants," directed attention to the "smut," or "black blight," and to the fact that the primary cause was due to scale insects, and advised their destruction to get rid of it. He recommended the use of kerosene emulsion in the form of a spray.

Some most interesting investigations have lately been carried on by officers attached to the United States Department of Agriculture to determine the causes of diseases in citrus fruits in Florida, and this sooty fungus disease is referred to in their report, some extracts from which will doubtless be of value.

"Sooty mould of the orange, or smut as it is sometimes erroneously called, is a malady which frequently causes serious damage. The fungus producing it is of saprophytic habit, deriving its nourishment from the sweet fluids (honeydew) secreted by certain insects, the attacks of which it invariably follows. As the honeydew falls it strikes principally on the upper surfaces of the leaves and exposed branches and upper portions of the fruit (the stem end, as the fruits are pendulous) and it is on these portions that the sooty mould grows. It develops also to some extent on the lower surfaces of the leaves, but is not so abundant here. In Florida sooty mould follows principally the attack of the mealy wing or white fly (Aleyrodes vitri, R. & H.), wax scale (Ceroplastes floridensis), mealy bug (Dactylopius citri), orange plant louse or aphis (Aphis gossypii, Glover), &c., and spreads as these pests spread. It is only when it follows the mealy wing, however, that it becomes serious."

"This disease injures the plant by interrupting the process of assimilation. This is brought about by the cutting off of light and by hindering the passage of necessary gasses in and out of the plant. The accompanying insects further injure the plant by sucking the nutritious juices from the cells of the leaf. The growth of the tree is usually greatly retarded, and in serious cases is frequently entirely checked until some relief is found."

The treatment recommended is as follows:

"When sooty mould followed the attacks of the orange mealy wing, spraying with resin wash or fumigation with hydrocyanic acid gas was found to be very effective. When resin wash is used, the best time for treament is in winter."

"The following is the formula recommended for resin wash :-Resin wash, 20 lb.; caustic soda (98 per cent.), 4 lb.; fish-oil (crude), 3 pints; water to make 15 gallons. Place the resin, caustic soda, and fish-oil in a large kettle. Pour over them 13 gallons of water and boil till the resin is thoroughly dissolved, which requires from three to ten minutes after the materials begin to boil. While hot, add enough water to make just 15 gallons. This may be most readily accomplished by taking a tight keg or other tall receptacle and measuring into it 15 gallons of water. Then plainly and permanently mark the height to which the 15 gallons reach. After boiling the hot solution may be poured directly into this measuring keg, and sufficient water added to bring it up to the 15-gallon mark. This serves as a stock preparation.

"When the stock preparation cools, a fine yellowish precipitate forms and settles at the bottom of the vessel. The preparation must therefore be thoroughly stirred each time before measuring out to dilute, so as to uniformly mix this precipitate with the clear, dark, amber-brown liquid, which forms by far the larger part of the stock preparation. An instrument like a chum-dasher, without perforations, greatly facilitates rapid and thorough mixing. When desired for use, take one part of the stock preparation to nine parts of water. If the wash be desired for immediate use, the materials after boiling and while still hot, may be poured directly into the spray tank, and diluted with cold water up to 150 gallons. This requires the addition of about 135 gallons of water.

"If a fluid stock solution is preferred, the wash may be prepared as follows:-Place the same proportions of resin, caustic soda, and fish-oil in the kettle, and pour over them from 15 to 17 gallons of water. Boil until the resin is thoroughly dissolved, and then dilute with cold water while the solution is still very hot, to exactly 21 gallons. To get this exact amount, the barrel may be prepared and marked in the manner already described. This will form a clear, dark, amber-brown solution, which at ordinary Florida temperatures will remain perfectly fluid. For use, dilute the whole formula to 150 gallons; or use in the proportion of one part of the stock solution to six parts of water."

It must be carefully noted that the American gallon differs from the English gallon proportion.

"When sooty mould follows attacks of the wax scale, mealy bug, or orange aphis, thorough sprayings with the resin wash or standard kerosene emulsion will be found effective. The time when the treatment should be made is not important in these cases; but if the resin wash is used, a dry season should be selected, when the work will not be rendered uncertain by the liability of rainfall."

General Notice.

THIS number of the Agricultural Gazette, containing seasonable notes for the month of December, will conclude the series for the year 1896. Arrangements have been made for the issue of the publication in future on the first day of each month, and the first part of the Gazette for 1897 (January) will therefore be available on the date on which the ordinary December number would have appeared.

Annual subscribers will receive, in lieu of the usual twelfth monthly part, a copy of the "Farmers' and Fruit-growers' Guide." This publication, dealing in a practical way with all branches of agricultural industry, will consist of about 250 pages, profusely illustrated, and will be issued towards the end of December.

No effort has been spared to make the "Guide" a reliable text-book on all that pertains to the cultivation of the soils of New South Wales, and it will be obtainable at the Government Printing Office, Sydney, price 1s., post free.