THE RENEWAL OF OLD FRUIT TREES. 



47 



as a Turkey carpet, and continue this treatment through the winter, giving 

 more or less food to the sheep, according to the weather, naturally most 

 in cold times. The droppings of the sheep will gradually improve the 

 grass sward, and cause the Cherry rootlets to rise in March to the surface 

 for the nourishment to be found there. An earlier crop of foliage will 

 thus ensue, which will protect the young fruit from those severe frosts 

 which often occur in May, and even in June. The fruit will be nourished 

 by every shower that falls, and after it is gathered new growth will be 

 stimulated and a store of vigour imparted to the trees for the following 

 year's crop. 



On light soils the land in Cherry orchards may be again dressed with 

 salt or kainit, and on heavier soils a dressing of 20 bushels of soot, or 

 5 cwts. of basic slag, to the acre in February, will be of infinite value to 

 the trees as well as to the grass. The same system will also renew or 

 invigorate Plum, Apple, and Pear orchards, but the boughs should be very 

 severely thinned, the useless spurs removed, and the centre of the heads 

 of the trees be kept clear and regulated. 



In renewing old Pear trees trained on walls one system is to cut out 

 every other lateral tier six inches from the main stem and start the 

 shoots behind the cut to form new tiers. Afterwards, the remaining 

 worn-out tiers can be served in the same way, and thus the tree will in 

 time be entirely renewed with young wood. In cases where the variety 

 is only second rate (as so many of the Pear trees are that were planted 

 some fifty years back) the lateral shoots can be grafted one foot from the 

 main stem, and in two years' time will begin to give a small crop. 

 Supposing a tree of eight tiers of branches, as many different varieties of 

 recognised merit can be grafted in, or the tree may be used for the testing 

 of new varieties, and in this manner a crop can be relied on in three or 

 even two years, the root vigour of these old trees being very powerful ; 

 if needed some stimulant mulching lightly forked in may be used to 

 assist the new growth. Another plan which I have seen successfully 

 carried out is to remove all the branches and main stem down to the lowest 

 tier, and by this radical operation the formation of strong new shoots 

 will be stimulated from this lowest tier, which can be encouraged to 

 grow in an upright form at such regular distances as are desired. 



In this way a crop is readily secured the second year ; and it is a very 

 good plan for varieties which, like Jargonelle when old, often fruit on the 

 ends of the branches only, and for other varieties which form a mass of 

 fruitless spurs. 



As regards overgrown pyramids and bushes both of Pears and Apples 

 in gardens, I should advise that all of poor or doubtful quality be at once 

 dug up and destroyed ; while those which are of good recognised varieties 

 should be allowed to grow in a free and natural way, merely thinning out 

 the superfluous inside shoots ; they will thus soon produce freely on the 

 branches of two or three years' growth. 



In cases where Pears are on the Quince stock, and Apples on the 

 Paradise, they are more easily dealt with, as the roots are closer to the 

 stem ; and if a trench be made round each tree, the coarse roots removed, 

 and the trench filled with fresh soil, the new rootlets formed will be so 

 abundant that the tree can readily be lifted and removed the following 



