GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF ORCHARDS. 179 



rect what shall be done with this or with that old tree, 

 which he has never seen. The very best treatment that 

 many old apple-trees can receive is, to cut them down at 

 once, and remove root and branch. On the contrary, an 

 enormous loss is often sustained by cutting down old nat- 

 ural trees, instead of re-grafting them, simply from a want 

 of knowledge of the best mode of performing the work. 

 After an orchardist has really determined to re-graft his 

 old apple-trees, the following will be found the most ap- 

 proved and satisfactory manner of treating them : Before 

 the sap begins to flow in the spring, trim ^all the small 

 branches from the large limbs of the tree perfectly smooth, 

 to a small tuft on the ex- m n 



treme ends, as represented 

 by Fig. 71. This will cause 

 the branches to throw out 

 large quantities of suckers 

 in all directions, most of 

 which should be rubbed off, 

 except in such places where 

 you would like to place a new 

 branch on the limb, at which 

 points one of the most thrifty 

 should be left. These, tak- 



,, p ,, r ,, ' Manner of pruning an old apple-tree. 



mg the full sap of the tree, 



will usually, in two summers, be of sufficient size to graft, 

 when they may be cut off and grafted, some eight or nine 

 inches from the limb, leaving room enough for re grafting, 

 if the first by any means should fail. Where wounds are 

 made as large as a cent, a coat of grafting-wax should be 

 applied at once. After the old tree has been grafted, it 

 will have the appearance of Fig. 72, p. 180. When the 

 grafts are well started, perhaps the summer following, the 

 tuft of old branches on the outer ends of the limbs should 



