STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 4I 



cases our aim should be to get clean, new, vigorous bearing 

 wood. 



Surgery. — Cover the wound with some protective compound 

 like coal tar or good lead paint. Do not be content with doing 

 this once ; two or even three times may be necessary so that 

 decay may not set in. If there are cavities, dig out all de- 

 cayed substance to solid wood, thoroughly tar, and then seal 

 with cement, or otherwise exclude the water and elements. 

 Cement is, however, liable to crack and it is advisable to cover 

 with zinc or paint with tar. If there are bad forks or the tree 

 is liable to split, bolt the trunks and use cable wire higher up 

 in the branches. Bolts put through the limbs to hold this cable 

 should have large washers and be threaded well up so that the 

 slack can, if necessary, be taken up from time to time. 



jMost of our old orchards were either Baldwins or Green- 

 ings, so that the variety did not require changing. But in other 

 cases where the varieties were undesirable, after reducing the 

 top, grafting had to be resorted to, to make the venture profit- 

 able. 



Spraying. — After the pruning and surgery have been attended 

 to, the subject of spraying must be considered. Most of these 

 old orchards had a severe infestation of scale, — some of the 

 trees were in a desperate plight indeed. When the tops had 

 been reduced so as to be reached by sprays our problem was 

 much simplified. Still the first orchards were hard to clear up 

 and it was generally two years before we had the scale under 

 control. Now I am practically able to clear up an orchard in 

 a single season, but not always with a single application. To 

 accomplish this in so short a time, the. work must be done 

 thoroughly and when conditions are favorable. Oils, in my 

 experience, are to be preferred to lime and sulphur when the 

 scale is very abundant, as oils will spread while lime and sul- 

 phur only kills where it strikes. Lime and sulphur, however, 

 has a wonderful effect in cleaning off the old bark and fungi, 

 and even were there no scale in a neglected orchard, I would 

 consider it a paying proposition to spray wdth this solution in 

 the dormant season. A combination I like very much is to 

 spray in the fall with the oils and then just before the buds 

 unfold in the spring, spray with lime and sulphur. 



