STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 43 



on our soils when starting to renovate, about one hunflrcd 

 pounds of nitrate of soda, two hundred to two hundred and 

 fifty of sulphate of potash, antl four to six hundred of basic 

 slag, ]U'r acre. Later I have used only a slight amount of ni- 

 trogen, one hundred to one hundred and fifty pounds of sul- 

 phate of potash, and three to four hundred pounds of basic 

 slag, per acre, as an annual dressing, whether there were pros- 

 pects for a crop or not. T have, however, when practicing clean 

 cultivation, used legumes as a cover crop to furnish additional 

 nitrogen and humus. 



Thinning the Fruit. — For the past four years I have made 

 it a practice to thin the fruit from all my bearing trees at least 

 once, sometimes twice, during the growing season. This is quite 

 a task, especially on older trees, still I consider it extremely 

 profitable. It not only guarantees growing the choicest fruit, 

 but it saves the tree from a useless strain. It is not so expen- 

 sive as one would imagine who had not practiced it. I would 

 say on an average, trees bearing seven to eight barrels of fruit 

 at the harvest have cost us about fifty cents per tree to thin — 

 not so expensive when you consi(]er that choice fruit is the 

 kind which brings the profit. 



Time Necessary for Re}iovation. — Here, of course, we can 

 only generalize. Where only a moderate amount of topping 

 and thinning is necessary, one should be able to get good results 

 the second year. In several cases I have in mind with such 

 varieties as Greening, Northern Spy and Roxbury Russet, 

 where the fruit was ill-shapen, with hard cores, and unsalable 

 except for cider, we were able the second year to win first pre- 

 miums on fruit from these same trees at our State fair. If 

 more severe treatment has to be practiced, four or even five 

 years may be required before a large yield can be expected. 



Cost of Renovation. — Here again it depends so much on the 

 size and condition of the tree, infestation from scale, etc., that 

 we can only use an example by way of illustration. It may 

 cost anywhere from one to five or more dollars per tree. 

 Where there is no infestation from scale, the variety is not to 

 be changed, or the tree does not have to be too radically cut 

 back, the cost is comparatively small and need not deter any 

 one. When the more serious conditions prevail the expense is 

 relatively higher. Take for example a Baldwin tree, some 



