94 THE FRUIT GROWER'S GUIDE. 



off close to the branch, those at the upper part and side of the branches being thinned so 

 as to admit the hand between them. Plums, as well as apples and pears, are amenable 

 to spur thinning, and fruits are thereby greatly increased in size and quality. An excel- 

 lent opportunity in thinning the spurs is afforded for removing dead wood, as it is easily 

 distinguished, and there is less danger of inducing gum in stone fruit, or canker in 

 apples and pears, by removing useless growths when the trees are in leaf than in winter 

 and spring. All prunmgs and spur thinnings should be burned, sprinkling the ashes 

 evenly through the orchard. If the trees are infested with moss and lichen, or shaded 

 by forest trees, let the latter be lopped or pollarded, for light and air are important 

 agents in the reduction of animal and vegetable parasites. Drain the ground if needed. 

 Free the trees from moss and lichen by dashing fresh lime freely on them when the 

 branches are wet and the air still. If the grass is thin and moss abundant, harrow the 

 surface well and dress with a rich compost, of which lime forms a sixth part, at the rate 

 of not less than twenty cart-loads per acre, spreading evenly. In February apply the 

 following mixture broadcast : 4 cwts. steamed bone-meal, 1 cwt. kainit, 1 cwt. nitrate 

 of soda, 2 cwts. common salt, and \ cwt. sulphate of iron, per acre. If the ground 

 is very mossy, increase the sulphate of iron to f cwt. : it destroys moss and germs of 

 vegetable parasites. Early in April sow a renovating mixture of grass seeds; bush 

 harrow, and roll the ground well. Keep a trim hedge and clean ditch, for, with the 

 former overgrown and weed-choked, and the latter foul through stagnant water, insects 

 and fungi find their foster beds, and all kinds of vermin a home. To keep health in 

 the trees, cleanliness must exist both within the orchard and the immediately surround- 

 ing precincts. 



From the foregoing it will be seen that the method of renovation advocated resolves 

 itself into sweetening the soil by drainage, preparing a rooting medium permeable to air 

 and rain, enhancing its power of forming and retaining food for absorption by the roots, 

 and clearing the way for its distribution through the stems of the trees to the fruit- 

 bearing parts. But there is another matter which must be remembered that is often 

 overlooked. Pruning old trees, or those of any age, severely, may, instead of mending, 

 make matters worse, for in the following spring clusters of young shoots push from the 

 stems where limbs have been cut away or arms shortened. These, if allowed to remain, 

 appropriate the sap intended, by pruning and thinning, to concentrate on the parts left 

 for producing fruit. The trees, therefore, must be gone over in spring for the removal 

 of m growths starting where they are not required. When an inch or two long they 



