RENOVATING NEGLECTED ORCHARDS 397 



the proper treatment would be severe pruning, thorough cultiva- 

 tion, and liberal feeding, but the severity of each operation should 

 be modified in accordance with the vitality of the trees. In some 

 cases it may be advisable to do the pruning the first year and 

 leave the cultivating and fertilizing till the second year, or to do 

 the pruning and cultivating the first year and leave the fertilizing 

 till the second year. The important point of the whole matter is 

 to avoid seriously disturbing the trees. 



Plowing and harrowing. When advisable to cultivate, the plow- 

 ing should begin as early in the spring as practicable. The sod 

 should be plowed under, and the soil cut up with a disk harrow. 

 The spike-tooth, spring-tooth, Acme, or some other similar harrow 

 should then be used. Cultivation should continue throughout the 

 spring and early summer. Between the first and the fifteenth of 

 July cultivation should be stopped and a cover crop sowed. 



The plowing should not be too deep at first, for, as previously 

 noted, the roots in a sod orchard are very near the surface. If good 

 general treatment is given, however, the breaking up of some of the 

 roots will not seriously injure the trees ; on the contrary it may tend 

 to offset the possible stimulating effect of excessive pruning and feed- 

 ing during the first season. The harrowing is best done soon after 

 a rain, so as to keep a loose soil mulch on the surface of the 

 ground and thus prevent excessive evaporation. The soil should not 

 be worked while wet, for this will injure its physical condition. 



Under favorable conditions, such as thin sod or sandy soil, the 

 sod may be subdued by using a cutaway disk harrow without the 

 need of plowing. Some orchards cannot be plowed, and some 

 owners do not wish to plow them, in which cases hogs may be 

 turned out and allowed to root at will. By burying corn seed in 

 the soil or by digging up the soil in different parts of the orchard, 

 they will soon learn to plow the orchard thoroughly. 



Dynamiting. Dynamite is sometimes employed to break up the 

 soil in an old orchard, but it should not be used too close to the 

 trees nor in too large quantities. Under some conditions it may 

 be the best means of bringing the soil into a usable state. 



Fertilizers. Fertilizers are needed because, as already explained, 

 the soils in most abandoned orchards are depleted by exhaustive 

 cropping. It is well to remember that nitrogenous fertilizers, like 



