THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK 



tree renovation. Countless fruit trees are not worth the expense 

 of " tree surgery " if financial profit is the aim. From an esthetic 

 standpoint they may be worth saving, however. These two 

 points of view must be clearly kept in mind or the expenditure 

 may be unwise. Trees with dead and hollow centers, those with 

 scarcely any living branches, those with large wounds improperly 

 made may also not be worth trying to save. This is a series of 

 problems that can be decided only upon critical examination by 

 some one competent to advise. In the neighborhood of New 

 York I have seen on private estates hundreds of trees that have 

 had tree surgery work done to the total extent of tens of thou- 

 sands of dollars. Much of the work has been well done but — 

 unwisely. The owner of the trees would have been better off to 

 have had many of the specimens cut down at once, or to have 

 let them stand until a young and newly set orchard reached bear- 

 ing age. 



Neglected peach trees, unless too seriously afflicted with borers, 

 may often be brought back to usefulness by a process of dehead- 

 ing or " dehorning," as it is often called. The branches are cut 

 back very severely, even to mere stubs, but preferably with some 

 small branches or twigs near the apexes of the parts left. When 

 the work is finished the trees generally look like mere stumps; 

 but by the close of the season new growths will have clothed the 

 stubs and among these, the following spring, the best may be 

 selected and cut back for fruit bearing, the balance being removed 

 entirely. The proper time to do this work is in March, or, even 

 better, after the blossoms have fallen in a year when frost has 

 destroyed them and there is little or no chance of fruit. This 

 last statement has special application to cases where the owner 

 may pick and choose his time for doing the work during a series 

 of years. He may thus take advantage of a year when he will 

 get no fruit any way and thus lose nothing in this direction but 

 gain in improvement of tree. 



With apples the dehorning method is also practised but results 

 are usually less spectacular in their speedy appearance. Far less 

 wood is generally removed in proportion to the size of the trees, 

 and most of it is taken from the upper and outer parts. When 

 finished the trees look less stump-like than in the case of peaches. 



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