91 



Orchard Renovation. 



In the mature orchards of the east there appears to have 

 been no effort to follow any particular style. Most of the 

 orchards show signs of having received a few feeble and spas- 

 modic applications of the pruning saw, or, to be more accu- 

 rate, I should say a few slashes with the axe, and judging 

 from the appearance of the wounds the axe was not always a 

 sharp one. Many of these old orchards, although unprofit- 

 able, are in a good sound condition, and with a little judi- 

 cious pruning, spraying, cultivating and feeding may be put 

 on a profitable basis. 



The pruning of these old existing trees, therefore, is the 

 first problem that confronts the apple grower in the east. 

 The work in most cases consists mainly in cutting out the 

 central leader. Of course the remainder of the tree will re- 

 quire some thinning. All upright growing branches should 

 be removed and the long slender branches headed in. All 

 dead branches and stubs should also be cut off closely. Some- 

 times it will be necessary to clean out and seal up cavities, 

 but if a large proportion of the trees require such surgical 

 treatment it is doubtful whether the orchard will bear the 

 expense. Knot-hole cavities, after being cleaned out, steril- 

 ized and having the surrounding wood sawn off smoothly, 

 may be sealed up by tacking a piece of zinc over the freshly 

 painted surface. The zinc plate should be slightly smaller 

 than the wound, so that the bark will heal over the edge. 

 Coal tar is the substance commonly used for sterilizing and 

 painting the wounds. 



This abnormal treatment, however, is " butchery " rather 

 than pruning. When trees have been properly taken care of 

 from the start there is no need for such treatment. Pruning 

 should be regarded as a work of training rather than of cor- 

 rection. 



Time to prune. 

 Regular annual pruning or training will give best results. 

 A severe pruning once in three or four years upsets the equi- 

 librium of the tree, and in the long run is not economical. As 



