THE APPLE INDUSTRY.

Colonist, Volume LXI, Issue 15027, 22 March 1919, Page 7

THE APPLE INDUSTRY.

INQUIRY IKIO SFT STOCK

A TASMANIAN REPORT,

A committee set up by the Tasmanian Government to enquire into the Spyi stock system has presented its report to j.the Minister of Agriculture. The committee .found that "Except in those i ceases where the conditions are most! \ favourable, and the highest skill and at-i [ tention.are devoted to management, the! I Spy stock is not to be compared i'or prac-;' ' tical utility with the tree grown on •" ; Siding stocks." j j In the course of their investigations !■' I the committee inspected about 40 j ■orchards in the Tasman Valley. The.? I majority of the bearing orchards,,as re- J gards condition, were unsatisfactory, j ,-This was due to several causes, the chief I ;of which were unsuitable stock, faulty j selection of soil, and in some instance's! I bad management in respect to cultivajtion and lack of proper drainage., Instances were seen in odd orchards where I the conditions approached the ideal and i j where the Spy stock was satisfactory jwhen grafted with C.0.P., Munro, I Pomme de Neige, and Five Crowns, not: allowed to bear too-early, and assisted \ with good nursing and perfect drainage, f Disappointing results were observed1 when it was grafted with Stunners, Cleopatras, Scarlet Nonpareil, and the characteristic commercial varieties.; Stock and soil were the two principal • factors contributing to failure in this valley. This failure would be far less noticeable if the seedlinp- stock were "em-; ployed. j The committee found that, while there! was a fair proportion planted on suftable soils, there were seen many orchards on unsuitable-land;-The areas, which should not have been planted were: (1) Panj jiand, sandy in nature, overlying cement 1-with clay beneath; (2) land imving a thickness of hard gravel between the I 1 Joam and the clay; and (3) sand of vary- | mg depths in wind-swept areas The committee recommended trees worked on beedhng or Crab stock which stood ovt I unquestionably as good commercial pro-! positions, full of vigor, and bearing well while treesMv-orked on the Northern Suv stock, showed signs- of distress or Vt I least were not making wood' It wrs'i [even to be questioned whether any ■ stock would be suitable on soils such as ■those.mentioned above. One orchard on toeedling stock near Launceston planted' • on most unproiiiisiHg soil and situation! could be-seen at 80 years of age bearing a heavy crop of .iruit and makmp- WO od