APPLES. 



291 



this means, they may be expected soon to slow down and to 

 come into bearing condition, after which time a moderate or 

 light annual pruning should keep them in shape. Scrape off 

 the hanging bark. Spraying with fungicides and insecticides 

 should be begun with the other treatment. 



The way to make apple-trees bear well is to give good and 

 thoughtful treatment from the time they are set. To begin 

 with such treatment late in life is necessarily only corrective, 

 and too much should not be expected of it. 



Bearing orchards commonly lose their vigor, and give small 

 and poor fruit, when allowed to grow in grass-land, without 

 any cultivation. If the soil is naturally rich, a shallow plough- 

 ing and an occasional harrowing will restore their vigor. Or 

 if ploughing cannot conveniently be given, they may be much 

 improved by being converted to pasture for sheep, adding 

 occasionally a top-tressing of manure in autumn. These ani- 

 mals will serve in part to enrich the land, keep the grass 

 grazed short, and pick up the prematurely fallen fruit, in- 

 fested with worms or insects. 



The amount of cultivation or top-dressing to be given to 

 such orchards must be determined by the annual growth of 

 the shoots. If less than a foot in length, more vigor must be 

 imparted to them. If more than a foot and a half, they are 

 quite thrifty enough. 



Pruning. The mode of treating large trees has been already 

 adverted to in the chap- 

 ter on pruning. There 

 are some owners of or- 

 chards who most errone- 

 ously suppose that when 

 trees become old, heavy 

 pruning will restore 

 their vigor in the ab- 

 sence of good cultiva- 

 tion; while the correct 

 mode of treatment is 

 very moderate and grad- 

 ual pruning, in connec- 

 tion with the best of cul- 

 tivation. The forego- 

 ing correct portraits of actually existing specimens of bad 



FIG. 348. Illustration of Bad Pruning of 

 Old Trees. 



