84 BULLETIN 813, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



For two or three years after top-working, great care must be 

 used in order to remove all growth other than that from the buds 

 inserted in the limbs, otherwise the new top is likely to be made up 

 partly of sprouts from the trunk and limbs instead of wholly from 

 the selected buds, and the object of top-working be thereby defeated. 

 Under normal conditions the growth from the selected buds in the 

 top-worked trees will begin bearing lemons in the second year 

 and during the third and fourth years will produce profitable crops 

 (fig. 21). 



REPLACING UNDESIRABLE TREES IN BEARING ORCHARDS. 



In some instances it is desirable to remove the unproductive, 

 unhealthy, or otherwise undesirable trees in full-bearing orchards 

 and replant with reliable trees grown from selected buds rather than 

 to top-work them. Until recently such replanting has frequently 

 been unsuccessful. Experience has shown, however, that such 

 undesirable trees can be removed and reliable trees substituted for 

 them, when careful attention is given to a few fundamental require- 

 ments in providing the proper conditions for the yoimg trees. 



The trees selected to be taken out should be removed during the 

 late summer or early fall. Excavations should be made for the new 

 trees immediately after the older trees have been taken out. In this 

 work holes should be dug about 5 feet in diameter and from 2 to 3 

 feet in depth. The holes should be filled with good topsoil, mixed, 

 if possible, with well-rotted manure. They should be left in this 

 condition during the winter and early spring so that the loose soil 

 and manure in the holes will settle into position. The holes should 

 be filled so that after settling the filling will stand at least 6 or 8 

 inches above the level of the land in the orchard. In this way any 

 future settling will be provided for, and the new trees will eventually 

 stand in the same position with reference to the surface of the land 

 as the remainder of the trees in the orchard; 



In the spring when the young trees are planted in the places pro- 

 vided for them, care must be taken to see that they are given sufficient 

 water during each irrigation. This is usually best done by making 

 a special irrigation furrow alongside or around each tree. It is also 

 advisable to give the replanted trees small applications of some 

 quickly available nitrogenous fertilizer, in order to stimulate early 

 growth. 



With large, well-prepared planting holes, adequate irrigation, and 

 additional fertihzation, the replanted trees will grow in bearing or- 

 chards about as well as though planted alone. Sometimes it is advis- 

 able, particularly in the case of close plantings, to dig trenches midway 

 between the bearing trees and the replanted ones and fill them with 

 manure. This precaution will enable the young trees to establish 

 themselves without competition with the roots from the older trees. 



