The Renovation of Old Neglected Orchards 



R. S. Duncan, B.S.A., Port Hope, Ont., District Representative for Northumberland and Durham Counties 



I 



IN the spring of 191 1, four orchards 

 in the counties of Northumberland 

 and Durham, which had been very 

 badly neglected, were taken in hand for 

 a period of three years to be treated ac- 

 cording to the best orchard practices. 

 The idea was to see whether the "old 

 orchard" on the farm could be made to 

 pay; if not, what would be the use of 

 fruit men talking of rejuvenating the 

 neglected orchards? The orchards were 

 situated near the main road, where they 

 could be under observation thoughout 

 the season, so that the results of the 

 demonstration could be noted. 



The orchards selected and which now 

 have, been managed for two years, were 

 those of F. W. McConnell, Colborne, 

 with one hundred and seventeen trees on 

 a sandy loam soil ; W. G. Noble's, Port 

 Hojje, one hundred and thirty-five trees 

 on a clay loam soil; and Nathaniel 

 Nickoll's, Welcome, seventy-two trees 

 on clay loam soil. In West Durham we 

 were forced to abandon the orchard of 

 James Stanley, Bowmanville, owing to 

 the C.P.R. running their line diagon- 

 ally through the orchard. The orchard 

 of W. H. Gibson, Newcastle, compris- 

 ing one hundred and forty trees, was 

 .selected in the spring of 1912. 



These orchards were planted some 

 thirty or forty years ago, and had been 

 utterly neglected as to pruning, culti- 

 vation, fertilization, and spraying — in 



fact, they had never been sprayed, and 

 hence the quality of the fruit was very 

 inferior, the percentage of number one's 

 varying from thirty to sixty per cent. 

 Some of the orchards were "lousy" with 

 oyster shell, bark louse, and the limbs 

 were fast dying back owing to neglect. 



Two or these orchards had been in sod 

 and had never been ploughed for years. 

 Manure was applied as a light dressing 

 every few years, depending upon the 

 supply. 



The orchards were properly pruned, 

 not very severely the first year, the op- 

 eration being more a thinning out of the 

 dead wood and a thinning out" of the 

 top. Cuts of one and one-half inches 



diameter and over were painted wth 

 white lead and raw linseed oil to assist 

 in the healing of the wound and prevent 

 the entrance of fungus spores which 

 might cause decay and disease. The 

 rough, loose, shelly bark was scraped 

 off the trees to f;irilii;ite spraying oper- 

 ations. 



The orchards were measured at the 

 rate of ten to twelve loads of farmyard 

 manure per acre, in one instance the 

 manure being snpplementpd with com- 

 mercial fertilizer. 



In Mr. F. W. McConnell's orchard, 

 Colborne, we suggested that two hun- 

 dred pounds muriate of potash and 

 four hundred pounds acid phosphate be 

 applied per acre. The fertilizer respond- 

 «i 



ed on this light soil, and together with 

 the nitrogen in the manure we got a 

 good wood growth, which was quite 

 lacking. 



All the orchards were ploughed earlv 

 in the spring, and received thorough cul- 

 tivation up to the end of June, when a 

 cover crop of red clQver, at the rate 

 of twenty pounds per acre, was sown 

 in Mr. McConnell's orchard; red clover 

 in half of Mr. Noble's orchard at twenty 

 pounds per acre, and hairy vetch in the 

 other half at the rate of thirty pounds 

 per acre; and a mixture of red clover, 

 alsike, timothy, and oats in Mr. 

 Nickoll's orchard. .411 the cover crops 

 made a fairly good growth — the red 

 clover probably giving the best results. 



The orchards were sprayed very thor- 

 oughly three times as follows : First, be- 

 fore or as the leaf buds burst, with 

 commercial lime-sulphur, one to ten, to 

 control oyster shell, bark louse, and leaf 

 blister mite. Second, just before the 

 blossoms opened or as pink was begin- 

 ning to show in the leaves, with com- 

 mercial lime-sulphur, one to thirty-five, 

 with two pounds arsenate of lead added 

 as a poison for forty gallons of the 

 mixture. This is to control apple scab, 

 caterpillars, case bearers, cankerworms, 

 bud moths, etc. Third, immediately 

 after the blossoms fell with commercial 

 lime-sulphur, one to forty, with two 

 pounds arsenate of lead added per forty 



