GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF ORCHARDS. 171 



with pick and shovel, all around the old tree, three feet 

 deep, and seven feet in diameter, cutting off the roots as 

 he digs. Any experienced digger will sever an old tree in 

 two hours, so that a team can roll it away. Let such work 

 be done in the winter, or early in the spring. Then the 

 ground will be in readiness for a young tree. As the old 

 roots decay, the new roots will fill their places. Should 

 there be a lack of apple-producing material in the soil, it 

 should be supplied. Many people will cling to an old ap- 

 ple-tree so long as it will yield only half a dozen poor apples, 

 when a young tree would produce several bushels of superb 

 fruit. 



Forming the Tops of bearing Apple-trees. Fig. 70 repre- 

 sents a model dwarf apple-tree having a conical top. (See 

 definition of Pyramidalin Glossary.) In order to produce 

 a true top, lash a small pole to the central stem of the tree, 

 as represented, then let a line extend from the top of the 

 pole to the end of a sway-bar, one end of which is scol- 

 loped out to fit the body of the tree. Let the sway-bar be 

 of sufficient length to carry the line beyond all the branches. 

 Then, with the pruner (see Fig. 60), clip off the ends of all 

 the branches that extend beyond the line. If it is desirable 

 to form a round head, the line will be a reliable guide, by 

 clipping off the ends within a given distance of the line, on 

 every side, as represented by the diagram. A small block 

 tacked to the tree beneath the end of the sway-bar will 

 keep it from dropping to the ground. Such a device will 

 be found exceedingly convenient when forming tree-tops of 

 any other style. 



How to Spread the Tops of Trees. It seems to be a hab- 

 it with certain trees to send their branches more erect than 

 in a horizontal direction. This is particularly true of the 

 Gravenstein apple and Bartlett pear-trees, and many other 

 varieties. It is decidedly objectionable to have all the limbs 



