216 RENOVATING OLD ORCHARDS 



never, turn down the proposition merely on account of the 

 pests in the orchard, yet coupled with other difficulties they 

 may turn the balance against the orchard. 



RENOVxVTION OPERATIONS 



Having decided that the orchard is worth undertaking, 

 the renovating will usually fall under the following six heads : 



1. Pruning. 



2. Grafting. 



3. Fertilizing. 



4. Plowing and cultivating. 



5. Cover crops. 



6. Spraying. 



Some of these are more important than others and the second 

 item, grafting, can usually be omitted from the list altogether 

 and yet it is best to be prepared for the whole six. Let us con- 

 sider each one as briefly as we may and still get a clear idea of it, 



I. Pruning. — This is usually the first thing done and requires 

 more study and a greater variation than any of the others. 

 Each tree is going to be a problem by itself. Some will require 

 severe treatment and others only normal pruning. The type of 

 treatment depends on how badly the top has been killed, on 

 whether the tree is so high as to make a lowering of the top de- 

 sirable, and on how many water-sprouts there are in it. De- 

 pending on these three questions a tree may be pruned normally, 

 or it may be pruned severely, or it may be ' ' de-homed ' ' ; that is, 

 the top cut back very severely. Serious mistakes are often made 

 in choosing the type of treatment. If a tree needs to be de- 

 horned the pruner wastes time and money if he gives it merely 

 a light pruning; and, on the other hand, trees are sometimes 

 killed outright by being de-homed when they should have been 

 given merely a severe pruning. 



Suppose that the type of top is satisfactory, that is that the 

 tree is not over-tall and there is not much dead wood in it, 

 then it may want only a normal pruning. 



If the top is very high so that it ought to be lowered and 

 yet there are very few water-sprouts lower down, then the top 



