Vol. LXII. No. 2763. 
NEW YORK, JANUARY 10, 1903. 
$1 PER YEAR. 
A PENNSYLVANIA ORCHARD PROBLEM. 
WHAT TO DO FOR NEGDECTED TREES. 
Shall It Be Mulch or Cultivate ? 
I have recently purchased an apple orchard containing 
about 40 acres which is about 25 years old and has been 
neglected for the last 15 years. The trees are not large 
for their age, although we think they received good care 
and pruning the first 10 years after being planted. The 
ground is nearly level and is a clay soil with hardpan 
subsoil and only in fair condition, and is covered with 
sod which is mostly whlteweed and poverty grass. No 
orchard in this section has borne late years except 
those receiving thorough spraying, and this orchard is 
no exception to the rule. I have thought of trying the 
Hltchlngs mulch plan, but do not believe that the soil is 
in good enough condition to make a success of It. I 
have also thought of giving the soil a thorough tillage 
next season, sowing it to rye in the Fall and a year from 
next Spring turning enough hogs in the orchard to keep 
the sod broken up. I would like to hear from some of 
your readers regarding the best treatment of the orchard. 
REABKR. 
“ Seed Down and Mulch/' says Hitchings. 
The trouble with this orchard is evidently lack of 
soil and bring it into condition so that it will give 
up its potential plant food that will equal a mulch of 
decaying vegetable matter on its surface. Couple this 
treatment with a good thorough spraying of foliage, 
for you must not expect good root development with¬ 
out healthy foliage, and you will get results in fruit. 
GRANT Q. HITCHINGS. 
''Reform/* Says Prof. Waugh. 
In my judgment the only thing to do is to reform 
all along the line. If he tries any freak schemes he 
will be wasting his time and money. The ground 
ought to be thoroughly plowed next Spring, just as 
thoroughly as it can be done, with a good plow, a 
steady team, and a careful plowman. This plowing 
need not be very deep, but it should go down as far 
as practicable without tearing out large roots. The 
important thing is to get the soil into cultivation—to 
loosen it, pulverize it, aerate it, to bring it into a con¬ 
dition such that tree roots can get through it and can 
get some plant food in it. If a moderate dressing of 
rotted barnyard manure can be put on to the ground 
the sake of pruning. When in doubt leave a branch 
and take it out next year. It is impossible to correct 
all the evils of 10 or 20 years’ neglect at one stroke. 
The trunks and main branches should be scraped 
clean of all dead and loose bark, being left clean and 
smooth. Then I would wash them with potash (con¬ 
centrated lye) dissolved in water at the rate of one 
pound to eight gallons of water. Do this thoroughly 
and carefully with an old broom, and do not get the 
lye on any good clothes. 
Spraying should begin just before the buds open 
with a heavy dose of copper sulphate solution, six 
pounds to a barrel of water. Just before blossoming 
time another application should be made. This time 
it will be Bordeaux-Paris-green mixture. The third 
spraying, with the same mixture, will come just after 
the blossoms fall, and may be enough for the first 
year. It is probable, however, that a fourth spraying, 
made two weeks after the third, would pay its way. 
In succeeding years spraying should be continued, 
but the details will vary somewhat with circum¬ 
stances. If there are any broken, decrepit or worth- 
FAIR-SIZED SAMPLES OF THE LEHIGH GREENING APPLE. Fig. 7. 
decaying vegetable matter or humus in its soil. The 
present oWner states that he thinks the orchard re¬ 
ceived good care for the first 10 years. This good 
care, judging from the present condition of the trees, 
consisted of cultivating and cropping the soil for that 
length of time, thus reducing the humus supply of the 
soil to a low ebb, and being the worst possible prac¬ 
tice, especially for a heavy clay soil. If this is the 
correct diagnosis of the case the cure is to restore and 
accumulate the humus supply again. This is a tough¬ 
er proposition to do with trees 25 years old than with 
trees just planted, for the large trees are a continuous 
crop of themselves. Stable manure is decaying vege¬ 
table matter in a concentrated form, and if available 
a good dressing of this would be the proper treat¬ 
ment. Plow it under shallow in Spring and seed down 
to Red clover. Orchard grass and Blue grass, this 
to be mowed in August first year and in July each 
succeeding year, and left where cut. If manure is not 
available plow shallow in Spring and apply 500 pounds 
of complete fertilizer per acre, and seed same as de¬ 
scribed. I know of nothing that will ameliorate clay 
between now and plowing time, so much the better; 
but in order to make economical use of the manure 
the ground must be cultivated. After the plowing is 
done cultivation should be continued at intervals of 
one week with a disk harrow. This should be kept 
up till June 15-30. By that time the soil should be 
in such a condition that it will give a good catch of 
clover. Cow peas or Soy beans would do, but I am 
inclined to think that Mammoth clover will succeed 
best on the land described. Sow an abundance of 
seed and do everything to get a good stand. This can 
then be turned under the following Spring, and a 
similar annual rotation of clover and cultivation prac¬ 
ticed until the orchard is thoroughly renovated, that 
is for a number of years. 
Pruning and spraying are only less important than 
cultivation. Pruning should begin as early next 
Spring as one can comfortably work in the field. 
Dead and diseased limbs and clogging masses of 
watersprouts should be cut out and burned. The tops 
should be cleaned and opened out. Nevertheless this 
work should be done with judgment, and not just for 
less trees in the orchard they should be dug out at 
once or repaired next Spring by top-grafting. Thor¬ 
ough tillage and fairly liberal fertilizing is the most 
important remedy for this case, and the tillage should 
not in anywise be remitted before the lapse of five or 
• six years, probably not for 10 to 20 years. By that 
time the manager will know enough about orcharding 
so that he will not think of stopping cultivation. 
Mass. Agricultural College. f. a. waugh. 
Geo. T. Powell Says "Drainage**. 
It is quite evident that one of the things required 
in this orchard is drainage, as it is stated that “the 
ground is nearly level, with a hardpan subsoil.’’ This 
is indicated in the fact that the trees are not very 
large at 25 years of age. Where water stands about 
the roots of trees they can never thrive or be produc¬ 
tive. 1 would, next to underdraining, plow the orchard 
and begin a system of improving the soil. I would 
sow rye first and plow it in early the next Spring, 
giving good tillage until the last of July, then sow 15 
pounds of Mammoth Red clover per acre, with a top- 
