32 



WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR OLD ORCHARDS. 



It is certainly an important matter for tho&e who are going in* 

 for orcharding to consider what is best to be done with the old 

 orchards which are standing most probably on the farm. A 

 number of planters consider that the best way of settling the 

 question is to dig them out at once generally their reason being 

 that they are in a filthy state, and composed of varieties of no- 

 market value and a nest for all sorts of pests. We must say as 

 the result of our experience this is not our opinion. An old 

 orchard on a farm is valuable in many ways. 



Firstly : The trees can be cut about and can be used as a 

 practice ground for the orchardist, who if he is a South African 

 has many new ideas from abroad to put into practice and 

 experiment with and satisfy himself upon, and if he came in 

 from abroad with knowledge he will find such trees of great 

 value for testing how far his former practice can be carried out in 

 this country. 



2nd. Because if such trees are of worthless varieties- 

 they can be readily top-grafted to sorts which have been 

 proved to thrive and pay well, and more than this, and most 

 valuable of all uses to which they can be put, the 

 orchardist can top-graft on to them any varieties which he may 

 have planted, or which he thinks will be a pa 11 able proposition to 

 plant in his part of the country, and he can bring such scion into 

 fruit in two or three years, thus testing the value of a variety in 

 the least possible time and perhaps avoiding the risk of planting 

 out hundreds of young trees of wrong varieties, and if he should 

 have planted them out he can prove to his satisfaction that they 

 are unsuitable and can get the young orchard grafted or budded 

 over without loss of time. 



The writer cannot too strongly emphasize the value of such 

 experimenting, in fact of such great importance do we consider 

 the earliest proof of the value of varieties in different districts 

 in a country like this, that exhibits an entire absence of data, 

 that we consider that if feasible it should be a matter for 

 Government consideration and aid. 



To put it clearly, that the Government should with permission 

 take possession of old worthless orchards scattered through the 

 country, have them worked over by top grafting by experts to- 

 such varieties as it is considered would be of commercial value 

 to such district, such experts to have a thorough knowledge of 

 the bringing into early bearing of top grafted trees. One man 

 could supervise a great number of these small orchards scattered 

 up several hundred miles of railway, and the result would be 

 farmers could select their varieties to be planted from the success 

 or failure of the tests. We have ourselves, we consider, saved 



