508 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December 11, 1890.- 
in the morning is equally important. Great has been the injury 
done to plants, and during forcing operations, by a chill more or 
less severe a little before daybreak, when the cold is often the 
greatest, and fires have burnt down or become clogged, and the 
pipes have lost heat accordingly. However carefully the fires may 
be attended to at night, and they cannot be attended to too care¬ 
fully, the work is only half done, and can only be complete and 
satisfactory when resumed before the dawn of day during the 
winter and spring months.— Experientia Docet. 
RENOVATING ORCHARDS. 
[A Paper by Otr. JOHN WRIGHT, read on bebalf of the British Fruit Growers’ Associa¬ 
tion, at a meeting of the Falmouth Horticultural Society, November 12th, 1890.] 
( Concluded from page 4S6.0 
One of the most remarkable instances of improving fruit trees 
not on grass that has come under my notice was in the garden of 
Mr. Edmund Tonks, a gentleman of great scientific attainments 
and practical skill in Warwickshire. He planted an extensive 
collection some years ago, but the trees appeared to become old 
prematurely, growth practically ceased, the stems were as if de¬ 
voured by canker, and the fruit was worthless. The soil was heavy, 
and, as was subsequently found out, poor, or in other words, con¬ 
tained little of the manurial essentials for maintaining healthy 
growth. Having ascertained what the soil lacked, and what Apples 
needed, the necessary ingredients were obtained and applied. These 
were superphosphate of lime twelve parts (or lbs.), nitrate of 
potash (saltpetre), ten ; chloride of sodium (common salt), four ; 
sulphate of magnesia, two ; sulphate of iron, one ; and sulphate of 
lime (gypsum), eight. These were well mixed in the proportions 
named, and applied to the soil yearly at the rate of quarter of a 
pound to the square yard. Improvement was soon manifest, and 
when I saw the trees at least 10,000 canker wounds were healed, 
and not one could be found in which the disease was active, yet 
nothing had been applied to the branches. In that case canker was 
the result of starvation, and with proper food the trees were 
restored to health and usefulness. The above may be said to be a 
complete manure for Apples, but as the majority of soils are not 
lacking in all the essentials, what maybe called simpler applications 
usually do great good. The liquid manures above alluded to con¬ 
tain most of what is required, and in their absence a mixture of 
six parts (or pounds) of superphosphate of lime, three of muriate 
of potash, and two of sulphate of ammonia, applied at the above 
rate will generally improve enfeebled trees, as also will guano 
guaranteed to contain not less than 8 per cent, of ammonia, and 
20 per cent, of phosphates. All chemical manures used as top- 
dressings should be applied not later than February ; sprinkled on 
the land in late spring or summer they do little good, as they are 
apt to remain undissolved for a very long time, and therefore can¬ 
not be taken up by the roots. If used in solution they act quickly. 
For enfeebled fruit trees a pound of guano may be dissolved in 
10 gallons of water, or the same quantity of the “ simple mixture ” 
above mentioned, either of which, applied in winter, will be bound 
to do good if it. reach the roots. It may be mentioned that the 
strength named is twice what suffices for general garden crops 
other than trees. A peck of poultry or pigeon manure dissolved 
in 20 gallons of water is also excellent for debilitated trees. A 
farmer of my acquaintance gives a water-cartful of stable drainage 
to a favourite Apple tree every year when it is swelling its 
blossom buds,, and it seldom fails to reward him with £5 or £6 
worth of fruit, “ leaving a profit,” he said, “ greater than he 
could obtain from an acre of Wheat.” If he applied the liquid 
earlier it would do just as much good, possibly more, but given 
much later would be much less effectual. The tree is on grass, 
and the variety Gascoigne’s Scarlet Seedling. 
Something must be said on pruning in the renovation of 
enfeebled orchard trees. The interior of many trees is just a 
thicket of useless growths, fruit being produced on what is termed 
the “ outside ” of the trees only, where the leaves are exposed to 
the light and air ;. indeed, it cannot be produced under any other 
conditions. The aim, then, of the improver should be to invigorate 
those outside growths, which, perhaps, do not extend more than an 
inch or two a year. They must not be shortened nor materially 
thinned out, but the pruning must oe confined to the removal of 
the useless shoots and small branches that start from the larger or 
“arms” of the tree, and push upwards in their endeavour to reach 
the light. They bear nothing but leaves, and it is not in the power 
of man to make them do anything else ; but what they do is this • 
they.divert the sap from the fruit-bearing parts, and to that extent 
deprive them of the support they need for making them stronger 
and more productive. The crowd of growths in the centres of old 
trees where no sun and little light can reach may be likened to 
robbers, and should be cleared out. Shortening them will not 
suffice, but may make matters worse ; they should be cut or sawn 
off close to the large branches from which they spring, and the 
wounds pared smooth with a sharp instrument. The sap will then 
flow direct to the fruitful parts, and these will be strengthened 
accordingly. If the soil is enriched the growths will be still 
further strengthened, and may be trusted to find themselves room 
on the outsides of trees ; at least when these stand, as they should, 
distinctly apart from each other. 
It will be seen that the method of renovation advocated resolves 
itself into this—giving the famine-stricken trees the food they so 
urgently need, and clearing the way for its distribution through the 
stems to the spur and fruit-bearing parts that are exposed to the direct 
action of light and air ; but in removing the obstructive growths 
from the interior of trees, what may be termed a small matter of 
very great importance, must not be overlooked, or the trees will 
soon be choked worse than ever. In the spring following the 
pruning, which cannot be done too soon, clusters of young shoots 
may push from the main stems from which the useless parts have 
been cut. Obviously if these are allowed to extend they first 
divert the sap from where it is required for fruit production, and 
subsequently and soon fill up the trees with another horde of 
robbers. Nothing is more easy than to prevent this, and nothing 
more certain than that it has not been prevented in the case of 
thousands of trees, and the pruning has consequently been pro¬ 
claimed as having done no good. Of course it has not under the 
circumstances, but that is the direct result of either thoughtless¬ 
ness or negligence. What ought to be done is this—when the 
young spring growths referred to are an inch or two long an active 
man should rub every one of them out by the socket, going over 
the tree two or three times if needed. Cutting them off is of no 
use. The work is quickly done, and is absolutely necessary if the 
pruning is to be effectual. 
Cleansing old and neglected fruit trees is a necessary operation 
ia their regeneration. Not the stems alone, but the branchlets and 
fruiting spurs may be thickly covered with mo3s and lichens. The 
incrustations should be scraped from accessible parts, and then lime- 
washed, and where the scraping cannot be done, as in the most 
important parts—among and around the fruiting spurs, these 
should be thickly dusted with freshly slaked lime on a still day 
when every tree is dripping with wet, such as after a mist or fog- 
It is easily and quickly done. Send a man with a scuttle of lime 
on his arm up a ladder that reaches well above the tree. Let him 
dash the lime about in all directions, under and over the branches, 
sparing it not, yet letting every handful “ tell,” and if he does his 
work well the trees when dry will be as white as if covered with 
hoar frost, and the moss will vanish, leaving the wood perfectly 
clean. Nor should the lime that falls on the ground be considered) 
as wasted. It will do great good. There can be no really healthy 
trees without lime in the soil, aqd there is seldom any in that of 
old orchards, except on the limestone formation, and often not 
enough there in the upper layer of soil, for it has either been 
washed down by the rains or extracted by the trees during their 
long occupation of the ground. The application of lime in the 
manner advised is unquestionably highly beneficial to moss-laden 
fruit trees. 
Insects when present must be extirpated. One of the worst of 
these is the woolly aphis or American blight, which often crowds, 
into every crevice, punctures the bark, and does incalculable 
injury. It may be destroyed with a solution made by dissolving 
two or three ounces of softsoap and a walnut-sized lump of soda 
in a gallon of boiling water, and while hot stirring in violently half 
a gill of petroleum, such as is burned in lamp3. It should be- 
brushed well into insect-filled crevices, stirring the mixture as the 
work proceeds, and some may be syringed with advantage all over 
the trees. Fruit trees syringed every winter with this mixture are 
usually kept free from moss and insects on the stems, though some 
may attack the leaves in summer. Pure petroleum has been advised 
for fruit trees, and though in some cases it may not have done 
harm, in others it has proved fatal to the trees. It is wasteful and 
foolish to resort to dangerously strong remedies when weaker and 
quite safe applications are effectual. 
The subject of renovating fruit trees is a great one, and un¬ 
questionably important. It cannot be usefully treated in a few 
words ; therefore, at the risk of being tedious, I have felt it unde¬ 
sirable to skim over the surface, and have endeavoured to describe 
in plain language methods which have proved successful in accom¬ 
plishing the object in view. But while many old orchards may 
be, and should be, greatly improved, I am convinced that the fruit 
of the future that will command attention in our markets will be 
the produce of vigorous young trees not planted in or on the sites of 
old plantations either of fruit or of forest trees, but in fertile soil 
(not in damp valleys), such as is capable of growing first-class crops 
