214 



RENOVATING OLD ORCHARDS 



course it is possible to set out young trees where the old ones 

 have died out, but this is seldom, entirely satisfactory. In the 

 first place, the young trees so set are not apt to do well and 

 often refuse to grow at all. In the second place, even though 

 they do grow, it is a long time before they come into bearing. 

 With a poor stand of trees the profits are bound to be less, the 

 reduction depending on how poor the stand is, for many 



Fia. 92. — Ratlier a difficult tree to renovate and one which will require several years 

 to work over. It is headed so high and there are so few small branches low down that the 

 operation will have to proceed slowly. 



Fig. 93. — A difficult type of tree to renovate, but one which has little value as it stands. 

 It is so high that it cannot be sprayed properly and all other operations are costly. But it 

 can be renovated, as will be seen by referring to Figure 96, which shows the same tree three 

 years later. 



operations in the orchard cost just as much for a poor stand as 

 for a good one. Plowing, cultivating and cover crops, for ex- 

 ample, are "per acre" items and not "per tree." Even such 

 operations as spraying cost considerably more per tree if the 

 trees are scattered. It is, therefore, far more likely to be 

 worth while to undertake renovation with a good stand of trees 

 than with a poor one. 



