This king of the temperate fruits grows with us to perfection. The tree
is hardy, a rapid grower, comes into bearing early, and is, if anything,
inclined to overbear. It can be grown over a considerable part of our
coastal and inland downs, as well as the Stanthorpe district, and
thrives in many kinds of soil, from light sandy loams of poor quality to
rich loams of medium texture or even heavier. In this State, the peach
is always grown on peach roots, the desired variety being either budded
or grafted on to a seedling peach, and the resulting tree is planted out
when it has made one year's growth. No tree is easier to grow, but if
the best returns are desired, it requires very careful pruning for the
first three years, after which an annual winter pruning is usually all
that is necessary. The young tree is such a strong grower that unless it
is heavily cut back it becomes top-heavy and breaks to pieces with the
weight of fruit, but when hard cut back for the first two years, so that
it has a good main stem and strong primary branches, it will form a
strong tree, and stand up well under a heavy crop of fruit. The strong
growth it makes necessitates heavy pruning when large fruit is
desired--and it is large showy fruit which sells best here--as were the
tree allowed to go unpruned, it would bear enormous numbers of fruit,
many of which would be of small size. Growers now realise this, and many
of our orchards are well pruned, whereas a few years since the trees
were allowed to grow pretty much as they like.
The peach remains profitable much longer here than it does in
California, as the trees do not wear out so quickly, the roots remaining
sound up to the last, so that, unless the top is too far gone, the life
of the tree may usually be extended for several years by heading hard
back and forming an entirely new head to the tree. Trees in full bearing
often produce fully 1,000 lb. weight of fruit in a single season. This
is, of course, very much above the average, but by no means exceptional.
When in their third season, they should bear enough to pay for all
working expenses.
A very large number of varieties have been tested in Queensland, most of
which do well, but, as in the case of apples, we find from experience
that it is best to stick to a few kinds, and those that have proved to
be most suitable to our soil and climate, rather than to experiment with
a large number of varieties.
The usual plan is to plant a number of varieties that ripen in
succession, as with the apple, so as to spread the season over as long a
time as possible, and to stick to kinds that bear well, look well, and
ship well, for appearance will usually beat quality, and fetch more
money.
So far, little has been done in the way of utilising the peach, as the
demand for the fresh fruit has been equal to our supply. There is,
however, no reason why we should not be able to establish and maintain
a fair canning and drying trade, should the production overcome the
demand for the fresh fruit, as our peaches are of large size, and will
can and dry well--that is to say, varieties adapted to those purposes
will do so.
The nectarine, which is simply a smooth-skinned peach, does equally
well, many varieties bear heavily, and some produce fruit of exceptional
merit. I have seen as fine nectarines grown in the Stanthorpe district
as I have met with in any part of Australia or America, fruit of large
size and the highest flavour, that compared favourably with the finest
hothouse-grown fruit of the Old World.
[Illustration: Peach Avenue, Darling Downs District.]