1858. 
THE CULTIVATOR 
149 
Renovating Old Orchards. 
A large apple orchard, of about thirty years growth, 
has recently fallen under my management. During 
the first twenty years of its growth much attention was 
bestowed upon it, by scraping off the rough bark, wash¬ 
ing, pruning thoroughly, and manuring the ground. 
During the past ten years, however, it has been con¬ 
siderably neglected, the scrapings, washings, and ma- 
nurings having been omitted, while the prunings have 
been only lightly performed, annually. The conse¬ 
quence is, that the soil will bring but little grass, and 
the trees, though nearly all of them have a thrifty ap¬ 
pearance, bear irregularly, some of them still bringing 
choice fruit to a plentiful extent, while many bear 
plentifully cracked and knotty fruit, and the balance 
rarely bear. 
I am anxious to do a large amount of grafting this 
spring in this orchard, and to bring it into excellent 
condition in the least possible time, but am rather un¬ 
certain as to the proper course to pursue to most quick¬ 
ly and effectually renovate it. Please advise me. Otis 
E. Wood. Etna , Tompkins Co , N. Y. 
Trees which have been “lightly” and properly prun¬ 
ed, and the soil kept fertile or previously manured, so 
that they have “ a thrifty appearance,” we should re¬ 
gard as in good condition. If the trees are not suffi¬ 
ciently vigorous however, moderate manuring and cul¬ 
tivation to keep the soil constantly clean and mellow, 
will tend to improve them more tnan any scraping, 
washing, or pruning, although these are good in their 
place. We should not desire the soil to bring any grass, 
in an orchard to bo renovated, but would keep it clear, 
by harrowing or 
shallow plowing.— 
The trees which do 
not bear, under 
good treatment, 
should be re-graft¬ 
ed to productive 
varieties , such as 
the Baldwin, Lo¬ 
well, Seek-no-fur- 
ther, &c. The graft¬ 
ing should com¬ 
mence at the top of 
each tree, and be 
continued for two or three years, working downwards, 
till the whole is replaced. This course prevents the 
evil of lopping off too much at a time, at the same time 
that the grafts have nothing above to shade them. The 
re-grafted tree, when completed, will then have the 
appearance of Eig. 1. 
In relation to pruning, nothing is more erroneous and 
hurtful than the common practice. Large trees are 
commonly trimmed up, as shown in Eig. 2, leaving long 
naked branches over the whole tree, with thick tufts of 
branches and leaves at the extreme ends. The proper 
course is to thin out the exterior, allowing the sun to 
enter the body of the 
tree, as in Eig. 3, and 
keeping the head within 
reasonable reach. We 
have just seen a fine or¬ 
chard lately trimmed 
very heavily, and most 
of the trees now appear 
much worse than Fig. 2, 
the bearing portions be¬ 
ing thrown up a consid¬ 
erable distance towards 
the clouds. The owner 
did not say that he in¬ 
tended to gather the 
fruit by means ot balloons, but that was the inference. 
Before trimming, the trees appeared like Fig 3, all the 
central portions of which were carefully cut out, ex¬ 
cept the larger limbs, and these were completely clear¬ 
ed of all smaller shoots. The parts that should have 
remained were cut away, and the parts which should 
have been thinned or removed, alone remained. 
We much prefer a light annual pruning to any other; 
removing, while small, any shoots likely to form too 
thick a head, or to interfere with the successful growth 
of good, evenly distributed branches. Such a course 
obviates the necessity of making large wounds or check¬ 
ing the tree by lopping heavy limbs. 
-»-»-<»- 
A Substitute for Horse-radish.. 
Sam Slick, the clock-maker, in his book, “ Nature 
and Human Nature,” says : “ Take a turnip, scrape 
or grate it the same as the radish; mix it with fresh 
mustard and a little pepper and vinegar, and you can’t 
tell it from tother.” We have tried it, and Sam is 
right. The turnip we use is the Sweet German ; per¬ 
haps the Yellow Swede is just as good. Try it, Messrs. 
Editors, and give us your opinion through the columns 
of the Co. Gent. Keziah. [As we have the genuine 
article in abundance, we leave it for some of our read¬ 
ers to test, and report upon Sam Slick’s invention.] 
. — ' +9 ■■■ 
Cutting Hay Early. —I am much pleased with the 
account of the experiment of “ J. H. H.” of Seneca 
Co., showing the superiority of late cut timothy hay. 
Is it not probable that all culmiferous plants are gov¬ 
erned by similar laws, so far as the development of 
nutriment is concerned 1 Take, for example, the Chi¬ 
nese Sugar Cane. The Country Gentleman contained 
some months ago a very clear, full, and accurate ac¬ 
count of a series of experiments, showing that the sac¬ 
charine matter was doubled when the seed was nearly 
ripe, as compared with stalks cut when first headed 
out. Is it probable that timothy and other grasses are 
governed by an opposite law ? Such a supposition 
would be contrary to all facts in other cases. No plant 
when green, succulent, and watery, has as much sub¬ 
stance as afterwards. The thing may of course be 
carried to an extreme, when the plant is dried up and 
woody, y. w. 
Fig 3. 
