ORCHARDS. 



39 



in winter or spring, either flowers or vege- 

 tables. 



Cultivating orchard - land with leguminous 

 crops has also been tried rather extensively with 

 the object of enriching the soil and testing the 

 effect on the trees. But it appears from obser- 

 vation in this country that while the tree is 

 young, and at the season of full growth, any 

 kind of crop will inflict some injury on the trees 

 simply by the withdrawal of water from the soil. 



When manurial aid becomes needful to an 

 established orchard either from defective growth 

 or sterility (provided the latter is not due to 

 extreme vigour), moderate dressings of old 

 manure from the stables or farmyard applied 

 to the surface at the rate of 10 or 12 tons per 

 acre every year until an improvement is effected 

 will generally accomplish its purpose. Failing 

 this, resource may be had to artificial or mineral 

 manures. If growth is weak, nitrate of soda at 

 the rate of 1J cwt. to 2 cwts. per acre will in 

 many soils produce a marked effect in a short 

 time, provided other needful soil constituents 

 be present ; or sulphate of ammonia may be em- 

 ployed instead at about 1^ cwt. to If cwt. for 

 the same space. The first should be applied 

 just as the leaves are expanding and when the 

 soil is moist; the second should be given at 

 least two months before growth starts. In 

 cases of defective fertility superphosphate of 

 lime and sulphate of potash can be used, the 

 former at the rate of 2 to 3 cwts. and the latter 

 at 1J to 2 cwts. per acre, the smaller dressings 

 being preferable in each case. These can be 

 mixed together and applied in the autumn after 

 the leaves have fallen. There are many other 

 nitrogenous, phosphatic, and potassic manures 

 in the market, some of which are excellent, and 

 there are several forms of crushed bones and 

 bone-meal which are admirable fertilizers for 

 orchards. 



The routine work in an orchard comprises 

 many matters in which the most watchful care 

 must be exercised. The pruning and develop- 

 ment of the trees require to be studied closely, 

 the bark injuries resulting from contact with 

 stakes must be guarded against, and the first 

 signs of disease or insects should bring the culti- 

 vator to the rescue. When young trees are in 

 full bearing, judicious thinning of the crops will 

 demand attention, and if the trees fail to bear 

 from excessive vigour, root-pruning or lifting 

 are laborious but usually effective remedies. 

 The spraying of fruit-trees is so important a 

 matter that it is treated upon in a separate 

 chapter. 



One other point only in connection with 

 established orchards and fruit plantations need 

 be referred to here, and that is the removal of 

 trees or bushes where close planting has been 

 adopted with a view to subsequent thinning. 

 If this is deferred too long not only are the 

 surplus trees injured, but the permanent ones 

 also suffer to such an extent that no after-care 

 will restore them. It is a matter that is. too 

 often overlooked, to the serious loss of the 

 cultivator. 



Improving Old Orchards. — There are many old 

 orchards throughout the kingdom which would 

 admit of only one kind of profitable improve- 

 ment, and that would be their total destruction. 

 Decayed, cankered, insect - infested specimens 

 may be very picturesque when laden with moss 

 and lichen, but they are painful objects for a 

 cultivator to contemplate, and if he should be 

 expected to restore them to health and useful- 

 ness he is deserving of sympathy. There are, 

 however, thousands of acres of orchards that 

 would admit of improvement, and difficult 

 though the task might be, the labour would 

 under some conditions be well repaid. If the 

 trees are bady diseased and decayed, they are 

 best removed and burnt, root and branch. If 

 they possess some degree of health, but the 

 varieties are worthless, they may be cut down 

 and regrafted with approved sorts, and service- 

 able trees may be obtained with due attention 

 to the routine cultural requirements. On the 

 other hand, a fully-developed Apple-tree may be 

 valuable, and worth while to try what care will 

 do in the way of restoration. Many such trees 

 present a thicket of entangled and intercrossing 

 branches, depriving each other of light and air. 

 To reduce these branches to something like 

 order often necessitates the removal of the 

 greater portion. The branches should be sawn 

 off cleanly, the surfaces smoothed where pos- 

 sible with a knife, and then lightly tarred. 

 The next point is to wash or spray the trees 

 thoroughly for the destruction of insect pests 

 and the cleansing of the bark. Both operations 

 can be readily performed even with large trees 

 if the necessary appliances are at command. 

 Finally, the restoration of the food supplies in 

 the soil must be considered, as where a tree has 

 occupied the ground for half a century 3 during 

 a large portion of which time it has been 

 neglected, the principal available constituents 

 of the soil have probably been exhausted. If 

 the trees are in grass, take an area correspond- 

 ing to the spread of the branches, clear oft' the 

 grass, and give this a liberal dressing of stable 



