1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FARI^IER. 



371 



TREATMENT OF OLD ORCHARDS. 



I have an orchard of about five hundred apple 

 trees that were set forty years ago, one rod apart. 

 When I came into possession of the farm, eight 

 years since, tlie trees had been neglected to such 

 an extent that full one-half of the limbs were 

 dead, and now one-half of the trees are dead. 

 The remaining trees are large and have a large 

 amount of brush. I have thought of cutting them 

 down, and put two trees in a pile, and Inirn wood 

 and brush all together, and then set half the num- 

 ber of trees oa the same ground in the ash beds. 

 Please inform me what j'ou think of it. o. h. 



New Vineyard, Me., June 9, 1868. 



Remarks. — Well, we are not prepared to 

 endorse your plan. Perhaps we should be if 

 we could see your trees. But if the "large 

 amount of brush," you speak of, is live wood, 

 either of old limbs or sprouts, we should cer- 

 tainly hesitate to apply the torch. We have 

 eaten so much fine fruit from rejuvenated old 

 orehards that we are disposed rather to say, 

 "Woodman, spare that tree." The pomolo- 

 gical tutor of one of the editors of the Farmer, 

 the late Chauncey Goodrich, of Burlington, 

 Vt., was very successful in making old or- 

 chards "almost as good as new," and we pro- 

 pose to give you a brief account of the treat- 

 ment he adopted, and which we assisted him 

 in executing, for reclaiming old apple trees. 

 We do this the more readily as our memory 

 is refreshed by a little work he published in 

 1850, entitled Northern Fruit Culturist. 



After admitting that our old orchards in 

 New England are becoming scrubby and 

 worthless, and rapidly dying out, he inquires 

 for the cause. He alludes to the well settled 

 principle in vegetable physiology that no plant 

 or tree will flourish and produce fruit in ordi- 

 nary soils, after the particular ingredients re- 

 quired for its growth is exhausted, though 

 other plants or trees may grow there in the 

 most perfect manner. Analyses of the sap- 

 wood and of the bark of apple trees, show 

 that both are composed largely of potash, 

 lime and carbonic acid, viz : — 



Sapwood. Bark. 



Potash 16.19 4.930 



Phosphate of lime 17.50 2.425 



Carbonic acid 29.10 34.830 



Lime 18.63 61 678 



Total 81.41 * 93.763 



These, and the other materials, such as soda, 

 magnesia, organic matter, &c., which accord- 

 ing to the analysis make up the tree, were 

 abundant in the new soils of New England, 

 and hence for a time . apples were easily raised 

 on new land. But as these materials become 

 exhausted our orchards fail, and nature pro- 



poses a "rotation of crops." No farmer ex- 

 pects to grow corn for twenty or fifty years 

 by planting it every spring, in the same hilla, 

 without manure or .cultivation, especially if in 

 afield of grass. Is it not as unreasonable to 

 look for successive annual crops of apples 

 under similar circumstances ? In some cases, 

 also, the soil, which* was at first loose and po- 

 rous from the presence of the leaves and roots 

 of the primitive forests, has become com- 

 pacted and too wet. 



If right in this brief statement of the dis- 

 ease of our sick orchard, at least "half the 

 cure" is suggested. If the trees are starving 

 they must be fed, and if their feet are in cold 

 water, we can draw oflf the water easier than 

 we can take their feet or roots out of it. 



The first prescription of Mr. Goodrich was 

 uniformly a dose of plough. Then for each 

 large old tree "take" a bushel of slaked lime, 

 or ashes, with plenty of peat or swamp muck, 

 or any coarse vegetable matter, with enough 

 stable manure to fit the ground for corn or 

 potatoes, which may be cultivated upon the 

 land. After this an annual top dressing of 

 muck with refuse lime or ashes, should be ap- 

 plied. Never sow any grain under the trees, 

 and if you must let the grass grow after the 

 trees are started, cut that under them, at 

 least as far as the branches extend, "early and 

 often," and leave it there for a mulch, — don't 

 begrudge the tree that much. 



The next year after this cultivation and 

 manuring, commence operations on the trees. 

 So far you have acted the part of a "physi- 

 cian;" your "alteratives" and "tonics" have 

 invigorated the system of your patient ; and 

 you now enter upon your duties as a "sur- 

 geon." Don't forget that your patient is a 

 living, organized being, — and not the "dead 

 subject" of the "dissecting room." 



Scrape the old bark from the bodies and 

 large limbs, and with a large brush or broom 

 apply ashes and water to them ; this will de- 

 stroy insects and give a healthy appearance. 

 White-washing with lime is always bad for a 

 tree, as a hard crust is left. As the trees 

 will now be in a growing state, they can be 

 grafted successfully, which cannot be done 

 with scrubby, uncultivated, dormant ones. 

 Commence grafting by removing at least one- 

 half of the top, and the whole of the centre, 

 which alone should be grafted this season. 



