Page:Australian enquiry book of household and general information.djvu/238

 orange requires plenty of room, and very deep, rich, loose soil, so that the roots, which are mostly near the surface, can push out freely. Very often the dead wood in a tree can be traced to cramped roots or bad drainage—it is what is called a "greedy grower" from the time it first starts till it withers and dies of old age or disease, and in spite of the most adverse circumstances the orange tree will try to make wood and live. It is one of the easiest trees of all to prune as the chief thing is to trim the branches so that none are in advance of their fellows. A young tree should not be allowed to bear too heavily, as by so doing it will become weakened for future seasons. Therefore, it is as well to go round and pick or shake off some of the blossom, or if the fruit, has formed, some of the fruit must be rubbed off.

One thing to bear in mind in pruning all fruit trees is not to let the branches overweight the trunk. With young trees, particularly peach and nectarine, this is often the case. I have seen beautiful young trees in their second or third season split right down the middle from the weight of fruit on either side. To avoid this, the branches must be cut back.

This fruit tree bears when very young, or would bear if allowed I should say, as it is not wise to allow too young a tree to bear. Generally it throws out fruit-bearing shoots as early as the second season after planting. The peach is a very vigorous grower, and frequently develops more fruit than the tree can possibly bring to maturity if left untended in its early years. The fruit is borne on wood of the preceding year's growth. You can know them by the large fresh full buds, and which look green and unripe at the points. These should be cut back in very young trees, leaving only as many fruit spurs as you think the tree can support. In very young trees the fewer the better. Its first year a tree should not be allowed to bear more than 12 or 18 peaches, but instead of cutting away the fruit spurs (which would disfigure and injure the tree) to that extent let them blossom, and then rub off the small peaches when about a week old. Gradually as the trees get older more and more can be left till when it has reached maturity its strength is equal to a very heavy crop, though the peach always requires attention in the matter of rubbing off surplus fruit if in a climate that suits it. As the fruit increases in size and weight, support those branches that require it by placing strong saplings with a fork at the top (like a clothes prop) under them. To prevent the wood getting bruised, wrap a piece of old bagging round where the fork rests. The peach can be raised from seed, though it is as well when planting an orchard to get good grafted trees from some first class nursery.