142 



we want a fruit bud, or above it if we want a wood bud. These 

 methods should, however, be only used with discrimination, else 

 more harm than good would ensue. 



RENOVATING OLD TREES. 



Fruit trees planted in good soil and possessed of a good stem, 

 are susceptible of living to a great age. It, however, often happens 

 that through years of neglect their branches have grown to exces- 

 sive length and are, to a great extent, deprived of fruit shoots, or 

 that the crop is carried up too high, hence adding considerably to 

 the cost of gathering ; or again the trees are diseased, and in order 

 to successfully combat the pests which infest 

 them they must be shortened in. Again, the 

 variety of fruit the trees bear may be unsuit- 

 able, and it may be expedient to change it 

 by means of budding or of grafting. In 

 all these cases it may be desirable, or even 

 imperative, to shorten the tree and head it 

 back. For that purpose the saw is called into 

 requisition, and the cuts are smoothly pared 

 with a sharp knife, the wound being then 

 smeared with clay, or with the shellac paint, or 

 some of the other paint already referred to. 



The figure illustrates an old plum tree 

 which has thus been renovated. The plum, Top of au old plum tre- 

 better than most other fruit trees, stands ^fo^^S^s* 

 cutting back hard to old wood without 



showing symptoms of dying back, which, under similar con- 

 ditions, are often shown by apples and more particularly by peaches 

 and nectarines. 



Early in the spring, the roots of the tree, which may be good 

 for many years more, become active, the sap commences to move 

 upwards, and a number of hidden and dormant buds are excited 

 into life. Shoots burst out of the old stumps, and as they grow 

 they should be thinned out to the number of three or four only, 

 well placed and likely to form a symmetrical head. Should these 

 few shoots, which are destined to serve as main limbs, grow too 

 rankly, they may be pinched or cut back during the summer, and 

 laterals will grow on the tree, which will be shortened at the time 

 of winter pruning. Should, however, these shoots show only a 

 moderate growth, they are better left alone until the pruning season, 

 when they are cut back and treated as directed under the heading 

 " First and second pruning." 



Except in the case of plum trees referred to already, it is 

 inadvisable to cut back trees in the process of renovation to blind 

 stumps, but this should preferably be done just above a young branch 

 or a small shoot, so situated that it can be used for giving start to 

 the fresh growth. Old apple trees, apricots, and especially peaches 

 are at times killed through overlooking this detail. The sap 



