Page:Australian enquiry book of household and general information.djvu/239

 Bone dust, lime and wood ashes, with stable litter and leaf mould are the best manure for the trees.

There are hundreds of different varieties of peach, but it is best to choose that which grows best in your special climate.

The nectarine is very much the same as the peach, though not so handy or free from disease.

This is a fruit that gives a good return for moderate care and attention. It requires a good rich soil, but does best near water on the banks of creeks or rivers. I remember seeing two trees growing within a few feet of a very deep well and which were every season just loaded with fruit. In pruning, the same care must be taken as with the peach to prevent over-bearing, though the quince wood is not so apt to snap with the weight. All fruit trees are the better for being whitewashed up as far as the branches; it prevents borers and other insect pests.

This is a slow grower and so a tardy fruiter. It is generally budded or grafted upon the quince, which is said to improve its size and flavour, though I think it dwarfs the tree. The pear needs a deep loamy soil to do well, and it requires very little pruning beyond thinning out surplus shoots, and trimming off the long straggling branches. Farm and fowl house manure mixed with ashes is best for this tree.

This is one of the hardiest fruits grown, and I might say the favorite, for I am sure one sees it on every fruit stall and at every table. It grows in almost every part of these colonies, or rather attempts to, as it does not do over well in the hot parts of Queensland, while about Brisbane and the Downs it grows to perfection. It wants good free soil, doing best where there is some lime in it. Farm yard refuse and ashes is its best manure. In planting an orchard it is best to arrange the same varieties together and those that will ripen at the same time, so as to save time when gathering the fruit for market. One of the best plans I know of to dispose of one's fruit is on the tree, or as is done on some parts of the Hunter, selling the produce of the trees for the season, then the buyer sends his own men to pick the fruits. An orange tree would sell for a few pounds per year; a peach tree the same, and then the grower having no further trouble with the fruit can get on with his other farm work. In this way a large orchard might turn in a very comfortable income.