366 Old Apple Trees. 



Old Apple Trees. 



BY WM, II. YEOMANS, COLUMBIA, CT. 



ED. Western Horticulturist: — The question is very frequently asked, what 

 shall be done with the old apple trees ? This is more especially the case in New 

 England and those Eastern States which have many trees on the decline. Very 

 many of the orchards of New England are of natural fruit, the quality of many of 

 which sinks in comparison with some of the later and more approved varieties ; for 

 this reason comes the query mentioned above. There is undoubtedly a limit to the 

 profitable productiveness of apple trees ; they may have a lingering existence with an 

 occasional year of reasonable bearing, but beyond a certain point the vigor of a tree 

 must be rapidly declining, and for that reason, the expediency of an attempt at re- 

 newal by means of grafting may well be questioned ; for if the elements of disease 

 and decay have once taken hold of the body or roots of a tree, although grafted from 

 never so vigorous and thrifty a shoot, the nourishment must pass through diseased 

 organs, and hence affect to a greater or less degree the inserted stock. Not only that, 

 but it is a more difficult matter to obtain fruit from such old trees that is fair and 

 possesses the desirable qualities required, than from young, vigorous trees. 



At this age of fruit-growing, there is considerable diversity of opinion as to the 

 best course to be pursued. A farmer who is a fruit grower, and markets his fruit in 

 a distant city, remarked that if he was to set out a young orchard to apple trees, he 

 would as soon set out natural fruit, or trees coming from the seed, as the most highly 

 recommended fancy varieties, and gave as reasons, that the trees were always healthy 

 and bore profusely after coming to bearing; that they almost invariably bore every 

 year ; that, if there was no sale for fruit they could be made into cider for vinegar, 

 of which they would make more and better than fancy fruit ; that in marketing, 

 especially where furnished to families, they preferred them for cooking purposes 

 because they were more acid, cooking softer and with better flavor. He offered as 

 an objection to fancy fruit, the uncertainty of its bearing, many varieties being ex- 

 ceeding shy bearers every other year. There is certainly very much force to this 

 objection, and this being so, renders the attempt to improve old orchards by grafting, 

 a movement of doubtful expediency. It is manifest that there is a gradual deterio- 

 ration of the apple in New England, which can undoubtedly, in a great measure be 

 attributed to this wholesale system of grafting and intergrafting old trees. What is 

 it, that at the present time gives the West such a superiority over the East in her 

 apples — yes, and other fruits — if it is not the fact, that she has been obliged to origi- 

 nate new varieties, which she has done, and which are adapted to her soil and 

 climate ? 



If grafting must be done, let it be upon stocks that are young and vigorous, that 

 have been produced from the seed ; and if they can be allowed to come to bearing, 

 so as to discover the disposition of the same, before grafting, all the better, as it 

 would be also to take the cions from trees known to be bearing trees, because, unless 

 this is so, upon* the principle that like produces like, a barren tree may finally be 

 produced. 



It is a good thing to originate and dsiseminate new varieties of fruit, but while 



