

1-Tot ■worth, renovating. Tlie first lieavy crop of fruit -would break it down. 

 Tlie tree is top-heavy as a result of grafting a strong-growing variety on a 

 slo\(r-growing stock. Trunk show^s giraft made about tliirty years ago 



A pioneer apple-tree, probably one hundred and fifty years old. Althouglx 

 badly neglected, it is still producing large quantities of very poor fruit. It 

 seldom pays to renovate a tree that is more than fifty years old 



Rejuvenating the Old Apple Tree— By c. D. Jarvis, 



Connec- 

 ticut 



THE SCARCITY OF GOOD APPLES BECAUSE OF THE DESTRUCTION OF THE OLD ORCHARDS- 

 HOW TO STOP THIS SERIOUS WASTE AND PUT FRESH LIFE INTO THE OLD PLANTATIONS 



THERE is probably no more familiar 

 object about the country home, and 

 none that gives to the family more real 

 enjoyment, than the little group of apple 

 trees behind the house. Some of us are 

 privileged to go back 

 home occasionally 

 and sample the fruit 

 from the old Baldwin 

 apple-tree. The ap- 

 ples do not taste the 

 same as they did a 

 few years ago. We 

 say our taste has 

 changed; but the 

 change is not as 

 much in our taste as 

 it is in the quahty of 

 the fruit. The trees 

 have been so long 

 neglected that they 

 are unable to pro- 

 duce normal fruit. 



The demand for 

 apples is constantly 

 becoming greater. 

 The population of 

 the United States has 

 been nearly doubled 

 within the past thirty 

 years, but the pro- 

 duction of apples is 

 constantly decreas- 

 ing. The combined 

 crops of the past 



three seasons barely exceed the single crop 

 of 1896. This falling off is largely due to 

 the neglect and the destruction of the old 

 orchards of the Northeastern States. 



It certainly seems strange that right here 



A promising tree to renovate. It does not require severe cutting back 



108 



in the cradle of the apple industry of America 

 there should be so many neglected orchards. 

 Many of these orchards, ranging in size all 

 the way from a few trees along the roadside 

 or line fence to the more pretentious com- 

 mercial plantings of 

 many acres, are now 

 being renovated. A 

 few of the owners 

 have made a change 

 of front and have de- 

 cided that the apple 

 orchard is worthy of 

 better treatment, but 

 the greatest improve- 

 ment may be seen in 

 orchards that have 

 "changed hands." 



CAUSES OF FAILURE 



The management 

 of an apple orchard 

 may be likened to a 

 chain, the weakest 

 link of which is the 

 measure of its 

 strength. Many 

 people spend much 

 time and money on 

 one or two opera- 

 tions, and neglect 

 other equally impor- 

 tant factors. There 

 is no use in pruning 

 and tilling an orchard 



