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Statistical, Historical and Political Description of the Colony of New South Wales and its Dependent Settlements in Van Diemen's Land by William Charles Wentworth

W >> William Charles Wentworth >> Statistical, Historical and Political Description of the Colony of New South Wales and its Dependent Settlements in Van Diemen\'s Land




In March, all fruit trees should be examined, and the broken
or decayed limbs taken off.

In May, all fruit trees should be pruned, except evergreens,
and such branches as are necessary to be taken off cut close to
the tree, that the wound may heal the sooner, and thus prevent
the tree from injury by rain or dew.

In May, orange trees may be safely transplanted, as well as
in

June; which is the general season for transplanting fruit
trees: in doing which, the roots should be carefully taken up,
and planted as near to the surface as possible, taking care at
the same time that the whole be covered, being first spread out
like an open hand; after which the covering may be thickened with
a little rich manure; and when the hole is filled, the earth
about the root should be trodden gently, so as to fix the
position of the plant.

June is also the best time for making layers, and planting
cuttings from hardy trees.

In July, such fruit trees as were not transplanted in June
should be removed, and stocks to bud and graft upon
transplanted.

In August, evergreens may be transplanted, in which great care
must be observed, as they are very tender; and as their roots
will not bear exposure to the sun, they must be so carefully dug
round as to admit their being taken up with as large a ball of
earth clinging to the root as can be done, in which exact state
they always should be fresh planted.

In August, also, the nursery will require to be well gone over
and cleaned, and young trees prepared for grafting. Wall fruit
and shrubs must be now particularly attended to, in divesting
them of every foul or decayed substance.

In this month, also, all gardens should be cleaned and
dressed. The gardener ought to be particularly attentive in
keeping off weeds and insects, as grubs frequently make their
appearance at this time, which very much injure all vegetable
productions.

This month also the nursery wants cleaning, and the young
trees must be prepared for grafting: the weeds preparatory to
which, must be cut down and destroyed, or they will afterwards
give much trouble. Decayed branches should likewise be taken from
fruit trees; and such trees as appear stunted should have the
ground opened about the roots.

SEPTEMBER is a good month for grafting fruit trees, the scions
intended for grafts being cut off a fortnight or three weeks
before, and the ends which are cut stuck in the ground until
wanted for use.

Trees budded at the beginning of the year must now be cut down
within about two inches of the bud; this space above the bud
being left to tie the young shoots to, to prevent their being
broken off by the wind. No shoots should be suffered to grow but
the eye that was budded, and all others should be rubbed off as
soon as they appear.

OCTOBER.--Young trees that were grafted in September should
now be examined, and all the young shoots broken off, but one or
two, both from the grafts and stocks:--The clay must be taken
off, and the bandages loosened. The ground between the rows of
all young trees should also be kept clear of weeds, or they will
deprive the trees of a great part of their nourishment.

Apricot and peach trees should be examined this month, and
where the fruit appears to be set too thick, which will be mostly
the case in prolific seasons, they must be reduced to a moderate
quantity. This must nevertheless be done with care, and only such
of the fruit as is proper to remain left upon the tree.

In this month the garden should be cleaned all through, and
walls and fruit trees well examined, to prevent insects from
lodging.

In NOVEMBER such trees as were inoculated the previous summer
will want the young shoots tying, either to the top of the stock,
or to have a stake driven in near them to tie the shoot to, that
they may not be broken off by the wind. All budded and grafted
trees will in November want constant attention. All shoots that
do not grow from the eye of the bud, or from the graft, must be
taken off, that the graft or bud may receive all the nourishment
the stock can afford.

In November evergreens may be propagated by layers, from the
young shoots of the summer's growth.

In December the same observance is to be attended to with
respect to evergreens; and peach trees should now be thinned of
their fruit, where it appears too thick.

_Observations on some particular Fruit Trees_.

The Orange.

In pruning, the knife should be as little used as possible, if
you wish them to bear. The southerly winds are very unfavorable
to their growth, and parts opened by the knife admit the air, and
kill the bloom. This tree is perhaps more infested by ants than
any other; and the black contracted appearance of the leaves is
much attributed to this insect. From this persuasion, which is
pretty general, various methods have been tried to keep them off.
Human ordure laid round the boll of the tree will prevent their
appearing so long as it retains moisture, but not longer; tar has
been applied round both the trunk and branches, and only answered
while moist; yet a cure, if the ant be really inimical, is
certain to be found, with little trouble, and without expence, in
common suds from a wash tub, in which ley has been used. This
wash should be laid well about the roots in the evening, when the
ants have left the tree, which will be mostly the case, and in
wet weather always so, and there need be little apprehension of
their return next morning; a woollen bandage, dipped in oil, will
also be found a preventative to their ascending the tree. This
application, whenever ants appear, will have the desired effect;
but whether these insects are injurious to the tree or not, is to
be doubted upon this principle, namely, that the ant, being
excessively carnivorous, is instinctively led to the orange tree
in quest of the eggs, exuviae, larvae, etc. of some very minute
insect, whose eggs are attached to the leaves by a glutinous
substance, emitted by themselves in such quantity as to discolour
the leaf, the pores of which being thus stopped, it becomes hard
and tusky, and gradually closes. It seems impossible that this
change should be produced by the ant: for if it even attacked or
destroyed the blossom, this would not affect the leaves when the
tree is not in bloom; and therefore it is rational to conclude
that their changed appearance proceeds from some other cause,
perhaps from some other insect, perhaps from the assaults of the
weather, or some peculiarity in its soil or situation, or from a
combination of these and other causes; in exemplification whereof
it is worthy to be remarked, that a gardener in the Brickfields
planted a number of seed sixteen years ago, all from the same
tree; of which forty-four came up, and were all treated with
equal care. None shewed fruit until about seven years since; when
one produced about two-hundred oranges, and four or five others
had from thirty down to ten or a dozen each. The following year
the same trees were full; and afterwards others began to bear.
This very great disparity in their time of bearing, keeping in
mind at the same time that the seeds were from the same tree, all
sown at once, and all equally well attended to, would be
sufficient to excite astonishment, were we not to make allowance
for the various causes that might have tended to accelerate or
retard their growth.

The gardener himself says, that the chief of the defaulters
were a good deal shaded from the sun by a range of peach trees,
which depriving them of a great proportion of the warmth
necessary to a fruit which thrives best in the hottest climates,
he considers sufficient to occasion all the difference spoken
of.

The Apple

Has a great enemy in a minute insect called the Cochineal,
owing more, perhaps, to its being nearly of the same colour, than
from any resemblance to the Spanish insect of that name. A
gentleman who had eight trees that had for several years borne a
delicious apple, had the mortification to find the whole of his
trees at once infested by those insects in excessive number;
after which they left off bearing, and after failing in many
experiments to relieve them, he came unwillingly to the
resolution of cutting down the trees. These insects are of a dark
red, approaching to a purple, and combine in such numbers on the
roots as well as branches, as to shew in protuberated clusters,
exhibiting a downy whiteness on the surface. A gardener of the
colony, who has attended a good deal to this matter, affirms that
a weed called the Churnwort presents a perfect remedy to the
disaster; with this weed, the roots, cleared of the earth, and
the branches also, he advises to be thoroughly well rubbed.

[TABLE: VICTUALLING ONE MESS OF FIVE MEN.]
[Table not included in this text version--see html version. Ed.]

The End

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