18 



this reason, if a tree is by accident bro- 

 ken ofl' short in one of its upper branches 

 just above another, the lower one takes 

 the lead, and gets what sap the other 

 has not room to take up. 



Old trees are frequently met with both 

 in orchards and gardens, which have 

 ceased bearing from some cause or other, 

 and it is usual to cut such down and de- 

 stroy them. If the stems of these are 

 sound, be they never so large, there 

 is a chance of making them turn to 

 good account by grafting other new 

 sorts on them. I uiention this as it is 

 not generally known, and I have seen, 

 in Somersetshire, an orchard entirely 

 thrown up by a clergyman, who had 

 lately taken to the glebe on which it 

 grew, and the land replanted with young 

 trees. Now, it is very probable, if that 

 gentleman had known the advantage 

 of grafting his old trees, he would 

 have done so, and these would, in three 

 years time, have had a crop more than 

 equal to the first twenty of his young or- 

 chard J besides the risk of ever getting 



