286 The Principles of Fruit-growing 



oranges or cherries. Old and poor peach, apricot, plum 

 and quince trees would better be pulled out. 



Much good work has been done in the renovation of 

 neglected orchards, particularly apple orchards, and 

 results have been published widely in bulletin and press. 

 These tests constitute some of the best applications of 

 investigation to horticulture; and they also demonstrate 

 that in existing profitless plantations the country has a 

 latent asset as responsive to development as local mines, 

 quarries and streams. 



Why are orchards barren? 



It may aid the grower to analyze the difficulty if he 

 asks himself the above question, and then tries to answer 

 it. The commonest reason why old orchards are barren is 

 because they are in sod, that is, because they are unbilled 

 and unfed. There are men enough in the country who 

 have taught that sodded orchards are wrongly managed 

 orchards. They have been combatted by citations of 

 orchards that are in sod but are still productive. They 

 have replied that, in some cases, for a combination of 

 reasons, orchards may do well in continuous sod, but they 

 have still fallen back on the rationale of land management, 

 and have said that the system is wrong, nevertheless. 

 Time is rapidly demonstrating the accuracy of their 

 teaching. It is a case in which a handful of philosophy 

 is worth more than a forkful of facts. 



If one asks why orchards are barren, let him fill out 

 the following synopsis by way of review of some of the 

 principles enunciated in this book: 



The nature of the problem: Each case must be investigated by 

 itself; teaching must be along the line of essentials, not statements 

 of rules. The eight general factors that determine productiveness are : 



