of fair depth,
and retains moisture well when kept in a thorough state of tilth. The
trees are usually planted at from 20 to 25 feet apart each way, when
they are either one year or two years old from the graft or bud. They
are headed low, so as to shade the ground from the heat of the sun, and
also so as to facilitate the handling of the crop when grown, as well as
to prevent their swaying about with the wind. The trees make a rapid
growth, come into bearing very early, often bearing a fair crop three
years after planting, and fruiting even earlier. The fruit of the early
varieties has usually a handsome appearance, but lacks keeping
qualities, but the later fruits are both handsome, high-coloured fruit,
and good keepers. The trees are not very liable to disease, as, thanks
to all varieties being worked on blight-resistant stocks, there is very
little American blight (woolly aphis). Scale insects do a certain amount
of damage, but are easily kept in check by winter spraying, and codling
moth is not bad unless grossly neglected, many orchards being quite free
from this great pest of the apple-grower. So far, the growing of apples
has been confined entirely to the growing of fruit for the local
markets, no attempt having been made to export same. A very small
quantity is dried, and a little is used for jelly.

Many varieties of apples have been tested in this State, but growers
have found out that it pays them best to confine their attention to
comparatively few sorts that have proved to be the best suited to the
soil and climate, as a few good kinds are much more profitable to grow
than a mere collection of varieties. Many varieties are prone to
overbear, and trees of large size have produced enormous crops of fruit,
whereas young trees frequently break down under the weight of their
crop. The usual plan is to plant a few varieties that ripen in
succession, so as to extend the season over as long a period as
possible, and not to cause a glutted market at any one time. Early
fruits particularly are not noted for their keeping qualities, and a
market glutted with such would entail a heavy loss to growers, hence a
succession of varieties that suit the district as well as the market is
grown.

Nearly all kinds of apples do well, those that are resistant to the
attack of woolly aphis are, however, generally chosen in preference,
even though they may not be of the highest quality, as their
prolificness and freedom from this