228 RENOVATING OLD ORCHARDS 



Renovation Practice. — As already suggested these theories 

 of renovation have been tried out on many different orchards. 

 The history of one of these orchards may be worth stating briefly 

 to show what can be accomplished in such old, worn-out orchards 

 as we are considering. 



The block consisted of fifty-three trees on about an acre and a 

 quarter of land (Fig. 105). The trees were in such bad condi- 

 tion that the advisability of cutting them down and planting 

 a "real" orchard was considered seriously, but it was finally 

 decided to see w^hat could be done to bring them back into useful- 

 ness again. The methods just outlined were followed. During 

 the first summer the orchard appeared as shown in Figure 105. 

 This first year was the bearing year and the block produced 

 forty-five barrels of apples, "the first really good crop it had 

 ever borne," one of the neighbors said. As the trees were 

 mostly Baldwins the following year was the "off year" and the 

 orchard i)roduced only forty-three barrels. The third year it 

 bore nearly two hundred barrels, the fourth year about fifty, 

 and the fifth year one hundred and seventy-five barrels. This 

 last year the apples were thinned, which reduced somewhat the 

 total crop but greatly improved the general quality. In fact, 

 there were very few No. 2 apples in the orchard. The trees no\"^ 

 look, after five years' treatment, as shown in Figure 106. 



QUESTIONS 



1. Are renovated orchards likely to be profitable? 



2. What points should one consider in deciding whether to renovate an 



orchard or not? 



3. Give some idea of the importance of varieties in such an orchard. 



4. How would you prune an orchard that is to be renovated ? 



5. Why is scraping recommended? 



6. Discuss the fertilizing of a renovated orchard. 



7. What tillage should be practised in such an orchard? 



8. Can you describe any methods in the renovation of old orchards which 



you have seen? 



