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Renovation of Orchards.—Test for good Fruit. 
quality, will always command high prices. Twenty dozen of Oldfield Perry, in a good season, have 
been sold for as many guineas, from the Glebe land of Credenhill parish. 
As a general rule perhaps, the small orchardists make better Cider than do the large farmers, 
and for the very reason that they give their chief thought to it. It is their main harvest, and it is 
not too much to say, that many of them get from their trees, not only the rent they pay, but a 
considerable help towards their livelihood too. A rough calculation may easily be made. At 30 
feet apart there will be 50 trees to the acre, and with a fair “ hit” of fruit, 40 of them should yield, 
at the very least, 6 hogsheads of liquor. The Cider or Perry, at the low rate of sixpence a gallon, 
will fetch £2 10s. the hogshead, or ^15 altogether ; but some of it should be worth much more 
than this. Then there is the “pot fruit ” from the 10 remaining trees, still left to be sold in the 
market; and in addition, the profit to be derived from the produce of the ground. An acre or two 
at this rate, would give a handsome return ; and if the occupier be a Smith, a Tailor, a Shoemaker, 
or a Mason, as not uncommonly happens ; and if,—for there is one other important “ if ”—he does not 
drink too freely from his own vats, this addition to his trade earnings will put him in easy competence, 
and enable him to educate and place out his family to great advantage. 
The fruit trees on farms of higher pretentions should also contribute much more towards 
the rent than they usually do. 
VI.—RENOVATION OF THE ORCHARDS. 
The condition of the Orchards at the present time is most unsatisfactory and the closest 
attention will be required to restore their value. A century of neglect has caused the loss of many 
of the best varieties; and whenever substitutes have been wanted, they seem to have been 
procured at haphazard, that is at the least possible expense ; so that a large number of unproved, 
or chance seedlings, and other worthless varieties abound in most Orchards. 
The first step towards their improvement will be to subject the Orchards to a thorough 
revision. Stock should be taken of every individual Apple and Pear tree on the farm, and its 
condition and character carefully considered. Such trees as are mere cumberers of the ground 
should be cleared off at once, root and branch : and such varieties as are proved to be unmistakably 
inferior must have their places supplied by those which are known to be good. If these last trees 
are vigorous and healthy, they should be beheaded as far from the main trunk as possible, and each 
spur of not more than two inches in diameter, should be grafted with strong growing scions, so as 
to bring them into bearing again with the loss of only two, or at the most three seasons : whilst if 
the trees of bad varieties are not vigorous they should of course be uprooted. In every 
instance the vacancy must be supplied whether by grafting or by replanting, with well-proved 
varieties; for it must never be forgotten that when once planted\ the best fruit trees do not require 
any more care or expense than the worthless ones. This complete revision of the Orchards will 
require perhaps some years to effect, but it is a work of great interest and will well repay, by its 
success, all the time given to it. 
Test of Quality.— The commercial value of any fruit for the manufacture of Cider or Perry 
can be definitely ascertained by any one who will take the trouble to do so. It is only necessary in 
