THE RENOVATION OF AN OLD ORCHARD. 



BY GEORGE T. POWELL, GHENT, NEW YORK. 



Delivered before the Society, February 2, 1907. 



There are few subjects of greater interest than that of the okl 

 orchard. The old orchards are a source of great beauty; year after 

 year they come out in all of their glory and in beautiful and fragrant 

 blossoms, with the promise of abiuidance of the best of all fruits ; yet 

 we are in danger from the influences of diseases and the introduc- 

 tion of many new insect pests of losing these interesting and beauti- 

 ful landmarks. 



The first planting of orchards in this country was done in New 

 England, and there are nowhere to be found more old orchards 

 than in this portion of our country. 



In the renovation of an old orchard the methods to be employed 

 will depend upon the conditions that surround it. When the orchard 

 is planted on land that may be tilled and upon which spraying ma- 

 chinery may be used it will be of great value to give it cultivation. 

 The most of these orchards have been and are yet in sod, and for 

 many years grass has surrounded them, and has been contesting 

 both the plant food and the soil with the trees, and at a time when 

 the trees required both to carry on their best development in advanc- 

 ing years. 



I can perhaps in no way better outline the policy to be followed 

 in improving the old orchards of New England than to give the 

 methods that are used at Orchard Farm, where I have an orchard 

 that was planted by my father sixty years ago, and which at the 

 present time seems to be in the height of its greatest usefulness and 

 value. 



This orchard of two hundred and fifty trees was kept under culti- 

 vation for nearly a cjuarter of a century after being planted. Corn, 

 potatoes and other crops were grown among the trees, thus giving 



