APPLE OECnAEDS. 



trees, not only as a means of rendering their place pleasant to its inhabitants, but 

 also because the beauty of the town is a part of its wealth, and has an extensive 

 influence in attracting capital and valuable citizens to it. If he who plants trees is a 

 public benefixctor, how much more so is he who preserves those already grown, and 

 which, for a long time, will be far more valuable than any which he might plant. 



It is to be hoped that this subject will attract more attention at the West than it 

 has hitherto received, and that our new towns, while so rapidly attaiuino- streno'th, 

 will preserve, in some degree, that comliuess which nature designed for them. 



THE APPLE ORCHARDS 



BY L. DUEA>T), DEEBT, CT. 



Much of late years has been Avritten and said about apj)le orcharos and their cultiva- 

 tion. On most all farms of any extent in the Eastern or Northern States there are 

 more or less of old apple orchards. These, for the most part, have been left to grow 

 up and take care of themselves, which, in the long run, amounts to just no care at 

 all. The consequence has been, that they have become, by this neglect, unthrifty, 

 scrubby trees, full of dead limbs, the trunk and limbs covered with moss and rough 

 bark, presenting an unsightly appearance ; and in eight or ten years, the farmer, in 

 early spring, would mount the trees, axe in hand, and cut and slash off large limbs 

 and small, leaving the spurs sticking out from three to six inches long from the trunk, 

 while the tree would be so much relieved from wood that it would take it ten 

 years to get back to where it was at the time of pruning — so that, in the long run, 

 we think that the "let alone system" much preferable to the ten years' trimming plan, 

 although both plans are what every good reasonable farmer should be ashamed of. 



Now what these old orchards want, is, a thorough renovation in the shortest 

 possible time. The first thing to be done, is, to cut off the old top of the gi'owing 

 trees and set on a new one by grafting. This can be done best by the common mode 

 of "cleft grafting." Those limbs that are the size of a "hoe-handle," or an inch and 

 a half in diameter, should be selected, as they soon heal over, making the limb sound. 

 The "grafter" should commence in the top of the tree to saw off limbs, and so work 

 down, taking care to graft every tier of under limbs at a longer distance from the 

 trunk, so that the grafts will have plenty of room to grow and not interfere with each 

 other. To have this work done in a business-like manner requires three hands — one 

 to saw off the limbs and pare the stocks ; another to set the scions, two in a stock; 

 and the third hand to put on the wax. All old trees that have a good sound trunk, 

 liowever many dead limbs they may have, should be sawed and grafted. r>ut many 

 old trees require different management. Some, by bad pruning, have grown their 

 old tops up very high. To graft these old tops at such a distance up, would be a 

 difficult job; at the same time they would make an unsightly appearance in growing. 

 Such trees should be "headed down" — that is, the large limbs sawed off at such 



