224 RENOVATING OLD ORCHARDS 



tree is bound to make a still more rank growth and it is going 

 to be practically impossible to check it in the autumn in time 

 for it to ripen its wood before winter comes on. The result 

 is almost certain to be more or less damage to the cambium 

 layer and consequently killing of the adjoining bark. If the 

 damage is "less" we are likely to find injury around the trunk 

 of the tree, as is shown in Figure 103. In this case the bark was 

 killed only part way around and the tree survived, but it is like a 

 man with one lung so far as getting down to work is concerned. 



Fig. 104. — An orchard damaged by too much nitrogen. The trees have gro^n late in tht 

 autumn and have not been able lo withstand the cold. 



When the damage is more severe the tree may be killed outright 

 or so severely damaged that is it practically out of the race. 



Figure 104 shows a case of this kind. It was in an orchard 

 in the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia. The trees had been rather 

 neglected for several years, being kept in sod and no fertilizer 

 used. Then the owner had a " change of heart " and decided 

 to do b?tter by his trees, so he plowed the orchard and applied 

 a heavy dressing of barnyard manure. The soil was not very 

 fertile, and the past neglect had made it less so, with the result 

 that the trees had made long, straggling roots in search of mois- 

 ture and plant food, as it is well known that trees will do in a 

 poor soil like this. Then comes this entire change of conditions. 

 The soil is plowed up and supplied with an abundance of both 

 moisture and food, particularly nitrogen. The large, spreading 

 root system at once develops an abundance of feeding roots 



