376 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



This process goes on year after year, and at last reaches the ground. 

 The wind blows the tree over, or it dies standing — the owner finds it 

 rotten at the heart, and wonders what caused it to be so. 



In the spring of 1881 I found myself in possession of a very badly 

 dilapidated orchard of one hundred trees that had been planted in 

 1854. The trees had been seedlings originally, but in 1869, when 

 owned by Linville Murray, he and his father had top grafted most of 

 them. It passed into other hands and for ten years it was neglected 

 and victimized by six different renters. The only instrument used had 

 been the ax, and the slaughtering had been done by blows that struck 

 downward on the fated trees, haggling and splitting the mutilated stubs 

 that were left. Most of the trees were far past hope when I began with 

 them. 



In the latter part of March, according to my best judgment, I cut 

 away at least one-third of all the wood — of course with a saw. I 

 painted two or three time wherever a limb was taken off, some of them 

 six inches in diameter. The abuse the orchard had received and the 

 hard winters since leave me with few trees of much value to-day, and 

 with not much of definite opinion based on the experiment. 



During that time I had been observing a number of old orchards 

 that have been pruned in different styles, most of them barbarously. 

 So far as I have found any opinion during these six years, on the sub- 

 ject of reconstructing such old apple orchards, if I had another such 

 job to do I would cut in two styles, suiting my practice to each, indi- 

 vidual tree. Ist. I would cut back to ten to twenty stubs — if the tree 

 has sutficient vitality left it will send out a numerous growth of shoots 

 that may be handled so as to produce for more or less years a good 

 many apples of fine appearance and of high quality ; or 2d, if the tree 

 was too far gone for the first prescription, I would thin the top, make 

 the most of such apples as it would bear, and await the hour when 

 the wind or the ax should relieve me of its existence. 



WHERE TO CUT OFF A LIMB. 



On all varieties there is at the base of each limb an enlargement 

 that ceases more or less abruptly, close to the body of the tree, or 

 the larger limb from which the one you wish to cut off sprigs. Just at 

 the outer end of that enlargement, and sloping upward and inward, is 

 the place to apply the saw to larger limbs, or the knife to smaller ones. 

 This cuts them short enough and leaves the least of exposed surface. 

 Always cut from below up the slope. 



