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Occasionally it is impossible to do even a makeshift job 

 of plowing, and then one can sometimes begin operations 

 by running a heavy disc harrow through the orchard, to cut 

 up the sod and start things in the right direction, and per- 

 haps plow it the following year. 



After the plowing has been done it is always advisable 

 to use the disc harrow arid follow it with the spring tooth 

 harrow, going both ways with each of them, and going over 

 the land several times, so as to get the land in good tilth. 

 After this, through the balance of the season, it is best to 

 cultivate the land once every week or ten days, up to per- 

 haps the first week in July. And let this weekly cultivation 

 be thorough! If the two harrows suggested, disc and spring 

 tooth, are available, it is well to run the disc over the long 

 way of the orchard first, and then finish with the spring 

 tooth the opposite way. This insures all the land being 

 worked over, and leaves it more level than if one finishes 

 with the disc, which of course is desirable on account of re- 

 ducing evaporation. It is difficult to overdo cultivation at 

 this season of the year, and with an old, neglected orchard 

 I should feel inclined to let this be the principal feature of 

 the program, so far as the soil is concerned. 



Now for our second point in the program, pruning. This 

 is apt to vary more in the extent to which it is needed 

 and in the character which is best to apply than any one of 

 the other factors. If the trees are very high, with little or 

 no bearing wood near the center, as is apt to be the case, 

 then they should be given drastic pruning, so as to grow 

 an entirely new top, a good many feet nearer the ground 

 than the old one. If there are water sprouts in the center of 

 the tree, as is frequently the case, then the tree may be de- 

 horned, as it is called, that is, all the old top can be cut away, 

 leaving stubs perhaps 3 or 4 feet long at the base of each 

 main branch. If there are no water sprouts, or very few, 

 then the top should be pruned severely but not dehorned, in 

 the hope that it will send out water sprouts and thus allow 

 of dehorning later on. This seems like heroic treatment, and 

 it is, but in the great majority of cases, if the trees are other- 

 wise healthy, they will send out a bushy top which, with 



