Renovating and Pruning Old Orchards. 183 



middle portion is for trees of the largest size, as the Spitzenburgh, 

 Fall Pippin, and Rhode Island Greening ; those of smallest size, as 

 Bough, Yellow Harvest, and Sine Qua Non, are on the left ; and 

 those of middle growth, as the Swaar, Black Gilliflower, and Tall- 

 man Sweeting, are on the right. 



This distinction in the size of the trees is only necessary in the 

 most extensive orchards. 



Transplanting. Full directions have been given in a preceding 

 chapter, where the superior advantages of broad, deep, and loose 

 beds of earth, made by heavy subsoiling and manuring, have been 

 pointed out ; or in the absence of this excellent preparation, by dig- 

 ging large holes to be filled with rich mould, or manured surface- 

 soil. 



CULTIVATION. 



The importance of thorough cultivation has been already noticed, 

 and cannot be too well understood. If two specimens could be 

 exhibited side by side, the one showing the stunted, lingering, mice- 

 eaten, and moss-covered trees, caused by neglect ; and the other, 

 the vigorous and thrifty growth, and the fair and abundant crops, 

 resulting from fine and clean culture ; none could fail to be satisfied 

 of the superiority of the one and impolicy of the other. 



RENOVATING AND PRUNING OLD ORCHARDS. 



As soon as the first symptom of failure in old orchards appears, 

 they should, in addition to good cultivation, be freely manured in 

 connexion with the application of lime or leached ashes. The 

 change which may be thus wrought, can hardly be understood by 

 one who has not witnessed the result. The following experiment, 

 similar in nature, but differing in the mode of performance, described 

 by H. W. Rockwell, of Utica, N. Y., cannot fail to be interesting : 



" The experiment was performed upon three trees standing in my 

 grounds, none of which were less than thirty years old. One of 

 these trees, an old-fashioned [Newtown] Pippin, and a great favorite, 

 had borne moderately ; the other two made out between them to 

 ' get up ' about a dozen apples a year, just to let me know, I pre- 

 sume, that they * could do it,' but were perfectly indifferent how it 

 was done. 



" I last summer undertook the renovation of these trees. For 

 this purpose I opened between them trenches, say ten feet in length, 



