THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



45 



RENOVATING AN OLD ORCHARD 



Q. We have just bought an old orchard of 

 apple, pear, and cherry trees, some dead, 

 some diseased, others in a hopeful condition. 

 What can we do with them before spring? 



A. Get busy at once. Cut down the hope- 

 lessly invalided and the dead trees and have 

 them cremated, but save their precious ashes. 

 Grub out the stumps. Saw off smoothly the 

 diseased branches close to the trunk or fork, 

 leaving no stub to invite decay. Chisel out 

 the rotten wood, rake the fallen leaves where 

 larvae and infection lurk, and make bonfires 

 of all this rubbish. The tree surgeon should 

 use creosote stain, tar, or orchard paint on 

 every amputated part. Fill the chiseled 

 cavities with Portland cement (i part) and 

 sand (6 parts), applied with a trowel on a 

 mild day, when there is no danger of freezing 

 before the paste hardens. Buy a spraying 

 outfit and write to your State Experiment 

 Station or the Department of Agriculture, 

 Washington, for directions for mixing your 

 own insecticides. Begin to apply them early, 

 and continue to spray with regularity while 

 insects may crawl or fly. Invite chickadees, 

 nuthatches and woodpeckers to help you 

 exterminate insect pests by hanging lumps of 

 suet or marrow-bones in the trees. Have 

 houses for bluebirds ready by March ist. 

 Spread well-rotted manure or a high-grade 

 commercial fertilizer in the spring, plow 

 or harrow it in, using a disc harrow, if pos- 

 sible, to cut up the old sod. Dig about the 

 roots of trees with a fork, so as not to tear 

 them. Set out well-grown young trees be- 

 tween the old broken rows, which may disap- 

 pear when the new orchard comes into bear- 

 ing. Plant red clover or cowpeas for a cover 

 crop, not only to cut green for the cows, but 

 to plow under and add humus, nitrogen 

 and bacteria to the starved soil. Keep a 

 few beehives in the orchard to insure well- 

 fertilized blossoms. The rejuvenated old 

 trees will give you an abundance of fruit until 

 the new orchard crowds them off the field. 



AN ASPARAGUS BED 



Q. I have asked many people how long it 

 will take to make a new asparagus bed bear. 

 The answers vary from one year to seven 

 years. I should be glad to have your judg- 

 ment and learn just how to go to work and 

 what varieties to plant. 



A. Much depends upon your stock. Don't 

 buy baby roots or "cull.,," but select large, 

 vigorous, two-year-old plants of the Colossal, 

 Palmetto, Barr Mammoth and Mammoth 

 Columbian White if you would ha^- all the 



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