ORCHARD NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2293, 10 February 1898, Page 8

ORCHARD NOTES.

THE ORCHARDS OF GREAT BRITAIN.

The extension of orchard land in Great; Britain, which has been in continuous progress during recent years, haa been further emphasised in 1897, tho total area now amounting to 224,116 acies, or 15,166 acres more than m 1&92, when the aggregate area was 203,950 acre!". The increase on the five years h»s thus been mote than 7 per cent. Tbe present area exceeds that of the county of Huntingdon or hal£ thab of the county of Hertford or Worcester. The acreage officially returned aa under orchards is that of " arable or gvt,es land used for fruit trees of any kind." The tcts,l area haa been increasing during the last five years afc tho average rate of 3000 acres per a&num, asd the area in England in 1897 is practically equal to the entire area in Great Britain only two years previously. In other words, the expansion of area is, in effect, restricted to England, the orchard areas of Walea and Scotland, though slowly increasing, being' fairly constant. The explanation of these facts must ba sought in differences in soil and clisnats. If the 12 couatiea which contain the largest acreage* of orchards ba picked out, it will be found that they all lie in the south or south-west of our island. These 12 counties, moreover, acsounfc for a total of 168,637 acres, or exactly thrcefonrthe of the orchard areaa of Groat Britain, and are : — Dftvon, Hereford, Somerset, Kenfe, Worcoafcer, Gloucester, Cora wall, Middlesex, Salop, Dorset, Msnmouth, and Wilts.

'Ihe threo western counties e.f Devon, Somerset, aud Hereford alona — pre-eminently our cider counties — contain 78,217 acres of orchards, representing 35 per ccn*\, or more thau onethird, of the orehttrd area of Great Britain. Of the 12 councifs only Cornwall and Dorseb failed to register any advance on the year, whilst the Jargont ipcrease was 403 &crea in the orchard area of Worcestershire. Tuo smallest extent of orchnrds in any couuty of England is 91 screp, in Rutland, feufe even this is an advance of 10 acres oa last year'B area, — Home Paper.

MISCELLANEOUS. PHYLT.OXKBA AT ■WHANOAHEI. The Agricultural department is informed that

phylloxera has been discovered at Alderton's vineyard, Whangarei, three acres in extent, and at present bearing eight toDS of grapes, which will have to be destroyed.

APPLES FOR EXPORT.

The Agricultural department recently intimated that it was prepared to send Home an experimental shipment of apples, and guarantee, subject to the approval of the Cabinet-, Id per lb over and above the expenses. The department is now informed that on these conditions Canterbury orchardists will probably ship 5000 cases, and it is also understood a shipment will be made by Auckland growers.

HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY,

At a meeting of the committee of the Dunediu Horticultural Society to appoint judges and make arrangements for the March show, a letter was received from Mr T. K. Sidey from P*ris intimating that he would send some chr3'BK.nthemum blooms frozen in ice. air S. Cousins exhibited Bomo very handsome new seedling bsgouias, which were greatly admired, also a new seedling flake carnation. The begonias will be exhibited at the Mwrcb. show.

THB SMALL BTRD NUISANCE

Oz-chardists, who hava suffered severely by reason of the los 3of fiuifc shaken off the trees by the recent gale", are now, wa are informed, threatened with further loss in consequence of the ravages of birds. The blaokbirdti ia particular are very destructive, and show a Btrong partiality for pears. Mr James Ferris, of Newborougb, has hit upon an effective plan fer dealing with fcha pest. His method is to take ftuit wh:ch has been attacked by th« birds, spcinkle a little strychnine upon the broken pait, and place Ihft fruit under the trees. Care mmt, of course, ba taken that ths fruib so treated d^es nob fall into the hands of children. Tha safest plau is to put out the poisoned fruit lata in the eveaiug and remove it esrly iv tho morning before children are about. By that time the birds will have made their breakfast and paid the penalty. — Oamaru Mail

CLUTHA HORTICULTURAL SHOW.

The Clutha Horticultural Society's show was held on Thursday and on Friday, and despite tha backward season and unfavourable weather, was pronounced to ha superior to last year's show in point of quality. Mr A H. Kilgour secured most points in the class greenhouse planrs ia pots, Mr D. P. Miiligan in b^der plants for amateurs, and Mr C. BJ. Naisb. in the open class. Mr J. D. WiHocks secured most points for both fruifc aad vegetables, with Ms: Naugbtie close up in tho latter class. Mr West (Dunedin) fleat a flae collection of potplants for exhibition, Mrs Staifch (Duaedin) hand bouquet and wreath, Mr Cousins (Dauediu) a fine collection of begonias aad roses, and Misses Spiei'i (Waiwera) and Naish (OLanomomo) cut flowers, fee.

OLIVB CULTURE IN AMERICA,

It is remarkable, says Meehsn's Monthly, what an imnie»se stride forward has been token by olive culture ia Americ* duria^ fehe last quarter of a ceufeury. It i» seireely 50 years ago that nothing at all was kuo«-n of it, and the writer remembers well a distinguished French gentlectan, although a citizen ot Philadelphia, buying land iv T< xas and importing plants fram tha old. world fos tha mare purpose of experimenting with them, in ordor to ascertain their fitness for cu'tura iB that Enpion. None of these attempt* auoceeied. Evan California, so ready lit oiica to expe^iinenfc in all horticultural lines, nevee seeuaed to tai»k &=f whafe might be awvde- of fehe oliva until Mr EL Cooper, of Saata Barbara, coßanai«nc<*d their cultivation some 20 years ago. At tha present time 1000 *&res are utides oliva cultivation oa the Pacific coast, aad it is regarded as one of. the most profitable- of California market horticultural productions.

A NEW PLUM,

Tho varieties of plums are already so numerous that any colonial seedling or imported kind should be we4l tested before being racomuasnded for cultivation, writes lha Auttyalaaiau, and continues : — A seedling raised s»a*a yeacs sg-» by Mr Jaffsey, gardener, Tosrak, appears to bo worthy of naming and of being propagated. In colour, »have, and prolificacy it tesembles the old red Magnum boumn, but it is of superior flavour to that well-known kind. It is a good cooker aud a f *ir dstsei-t. plum.

THE UNIVERSAL FRUIT CASH.

Tha solution of tho case difficaUy ia fcha fruit industry lies in the adepts of a le#alisod standard case or cases by (ha various Australasian coloaies. So far each eolsny has its own assortment of receptacles for conveying fruU", and the fruit-growers every wfe»r« cling to their caios with tbe coDS*rvativa attachment) thm-fe tha New South Wales otckasdia* has foe his gin case. Afc the Intercolonial C«n£er&-nce in Brisbane last year standa«is ware adopted ia the hope of h&viug tha diffieolfey sefcfcisd by aetioa in a federal Bpirifc. Bufc tha cases, thongh designed to allow of prcper packing for tha fruii acd to economise sp2*ce on ships, have not caught on except ia Taensauia, wk«ra the oue •designed by Mr Pe*cock, on the Califo?Dian model, is rapidly g»iaing f*T«ur. The objecfcien* are that) a cubic form is nob arrived at *nd the measurements rsquira th&k s»eei#l timber should bs cub in the mills in »rder ta make the cases. Oqo other objeetten to tiw O*lif#rnis.u model is that it so nearly Kesemblea tka kerseena case of comuwree feb&4 pertuns not over ECiufiulous might make tut* of tbe laUa? and fchns injure khe rnpufcatUn of frsifc p*oked in this form. Mr G H Gr»pes pats these objections in fche Auckland Weekly News, an 4 proceeds to suggest a bi- ensue fsrM. His plan is embodied in the following descsipiion :—": — " A case eoasi*tiug of few* cul»»a, each lliu by llin bf llin, ineide measureraeat, with a cafjaciby of 2662 cubic i»ch«s, the external disne»si«ns of which would be 12in by 12in by 24in, aad would stack in any maaoer exactly 20 to ih« shipping ton. Such case to bo provided with a osatral division of -£in, pnds of £m, aad side# of £'a timber. Tbe auburn-ions of the Bame to be lliu by s£in by 22in, capacity 1331 caHc inches, and llin by 2Jin by 22in, capacity 665£sn cubic incbe?, both with a csatral £in division. In the full-sized c»se this bi-c*bic form w*ul<i prevent all heating and minimisa bruising of ftuit consequent upon one or two spseiznens decaying, thereby loosening paekiag. Laid down in nsy way, the bottom layer of the frait would have to bear ©n)y B£in of fruit pressure, as against a possible 15£ in in T&SEeanian and 17jrin in Califoraian case. Whichever side were opeaed weuld display a broad array of fruifc. Only cne bwadth of timber (llta) aeed be used, whioh eeuld be cut from waste, effecting a saving in quality of timber and in tisie required mani«>«l*ting sidths ; also in nails and time conwmed driving ; further, in time assd material taken iv makifg the threa additional casei required to hold a ton of frait sccordiog to Tasma»ian dimensions. Tfce odd 120 cubic inches lost to shipper using the Tasmaniaa caao on every ton would by this case be recovered." — Svdiiey Mail.