Renovating Old Orchards. 341 



This may demand a heavy trimming up of the trees 

 in order to allow a team to work in it ; and in 

 many of the forest -like old orchards it may be 

 economy to cut out a third or half the trees at 

 the start. Perhaps the roots are so high that the N 

 laud cannot be plowed. In such case, the land may 

 often be broken up in the spring, before the earth 

 becomes hard, by means of spading -harrows, disc- 

 harrows, spring- tooth harrows, and similar vigorous 

 tools. Or corn and other grain may be dropped 

 freely in holes made with a crow-bar, and the hogs 

 then turned in. Let them root for it! 



The earth -mulch once secured to save the mois- 

 ture, it may next be necessary to apply plant -food, 

 either in the form of stable manures, green crops 

 or concentrated fertilizers, or in all these forms to- 

 gether. 



It is probable that the trees will need heavy 

 pruning. But this pruning is for the purpose of 

 correcting the results of years of neglect, not for 

 the purpose, directly, of making the trees bear. In 

 fact, the effect of heavy pruning is apt to be in 

 the very opposite direction from fruit -bearing; but it, 

 must be done in most old orchards to bring the trees 

 back into manageable shape, to produce new and 

 fresh wood for fruit -bearing, and to thin the top 

 sufficiently to allow the fruit to develop to something 

 like perfection of size and quality. Weak trees may 

 sometimes be re -invigorated by this heavy pruning 

 alone. Severe heading -in of old peach trees often 

 accomplishes this. When the new wood is once 



