GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF ORCHARDS. 



185 



An old apple-tree-top renewed by grafting. 



This illustration gives the Fig. T3. 



reader merely a general 

 idea of the details. The dia- 

 gram is not a perfect mod- 

 el, as the centre of the tree- 

 top has been pruned away 

 much more than the branch- 

 es should be in a real tree. 

 Care of the new Shoots. 

 The task of putting a 

 new top on a tree is only 

 commenced when the cions 

 or buds have begun to 

 grow. Some of the suck- 

 ers should be allowed to 

 grow till the grafts themselves can form sufficient shade, 

 and use all the nourishment in wood and fruit. Suckers 

 will then cease to be troublesome. A thick coating of al- 

 burnum will be found on these bare arms, where before it 

 hardly equalled paper in thickness. A rapid and thrifty 

 growth will follow in consequence, thoroughly renewing the 

 age of the tree, as well as fruit, in the least possible time. 

 And yet, when a tree is so thrifty and luxuriant as to send 

 out a profusion of suckers, while the grafts are growing 

 rapidly, it would be wrong to remove them all, or to keep 

 the growth down, lest the grafts be stimulated too greatly, 

 and some of the sap should stagnate. Every graft on a 

 tree requires as much timely care as a young tree. Hence 

 the great labor of producing a new tree-top. If several ci- 

 ons have been set in a stock, and they all begin to grow, 

 the best and most promising one only should be suffered 

 to grow. The usual practice is to allow all to grow for a 

 year, and then trim out the redundant branches. But such 

 a practice is not to be commended under any circumstances. 



