CARE OF ORCHARDS. 



W. M. MUNSON. 



The fact that the apple is spontaneous in many parts of the 

 State, and that orchards will exist and bear a partial crop of fruit 

 though utterly neglected, is responsible for much of the ill-treat- 

 ment seen on every hand. There is little doubt, however, that a 

 well managed orchard is a most valuable farm property, and one 

 of the surest sources of income. In view of the large number 

 of orchards needing care, throughout the State, attention will, at 

 this time, be given to this point rather than to planting. 



RENOVATION. 



Repair is not necessarily associated with old age and decay. 

 Apple trees ten or fifteen years old sometimes need repairing 

 quite as much as do old and neglected ones. When the orchard 

 to be treated has been neglected for many years, the first opera- 

 tion, if the land does not need draining, is to prune thoroughly. 

 In this operation, which may be performed at any time from 

 late fall till the middle of May, care should be used that the trees 

 are given an open head. This does not imply that all small 

 side limbs should be removed, leaving a lot of whipstocks, but 

 that such of the larger limbs as are parallel and close together, 

 or those which cross, should be cut out. Half of the difficulty 

 of pruning is done away with if one decides to allow the tree its 

 natural form, rather than to attempt to shape it to some particu- 

 lar model. 



Many growers suppose that pruning weakens the tree and 

 shortens its life. There is, however, no reason for this belief, 

 other than the general statement that "pruning is unnatural." 

 But pruning is not unnatural. Man seldom prunes so heavily 

 as does nature in removing superfluous limbs in the growth of 

 young saplings in the forest. Furthermore, nature prunes at 



