HOW TO MAKE BETTER FRUIT GROW ON OLD TREES—MODERN METHODS IN RESTORING 
THE VIGOR OF OLD ORCHARDS—PRUNING, SPRAYING, GRAFTING AND CULTIVATION 
by Stephen N. Green 
Photographs by the Author and Others 
tu 
T HE country place with¬ 
out fruit has lost half 
its charm. Without the king 
of fruit, the apple, it lacks 
one of its greatest attrac¬ 
tions. To-day we demand 
perfect, high colored apples 
in abundance. The old orchard does 
not produce such and to wait until a 
new orchard comes into bearing seems very long. Can anything 
be done with the old orchard? Modern horticulture has proven 
beyond a doubt that the majority of old orchards may yet be 
made profitable. 
Let us look at your old orchard. There is still great hope for it 
if it is not past the prime of its life, say from twenty to fifty years 
of age. While specimen trees live to a ripe old age and continue 
to bear fruit, an orchard must contain trees of a reasonable age 
to be brought back into profitable bearing - . The outward appear¬ 
ance of a tree will tell much. Are the trunk and roots fairly 
sound and do they present a good, vigorous appearance? The 
orchard may be in a sad state of neglect and still we may be able 
to save many of its individuals. Have the trees been planted too 
close so that they have been forced into a growth like forest trees? 
If so we can thin them out and remedy this. It is much better to 
have the trees rather far apart in a mature orchard than too close 
together. Forty bv forty feet or 400 square feet to the tree is 
close enough. Make a careful study of the situation and remove 
the surplus even though it may seem a considerable sacrifice. 
- V* 
Does your or- 
chard contain 
the dreaded San 
Jose scale? If 
you are not fa¬ 
miliar with this 
pest have an ex¬ 
pert make an examination. 
I f you find scales on the dead 
or dying twigs send a sample to your State authorities. This in¬ 
sect in an old orchard is very hard to control and its presence 
means persistent spraying to keep it from its undoing the re¬ 
sults of other labor. 
The basic and usually the first operation in orchard rejuvena¬ 
tion is pruning. This in the average orchard has been neglected 
entirely or given only indifferent or unskilled care for the past 
decade. The trees are a tangled mass of growth which prevents 
proper fruiting. Dead limbs and water sprouts are to be found 
everywhere. 
When pruning has been done by the previous owner it has been 
to “prune it up” in the literal sense of the word. The bearing top 
of the tree by this method is now beyond the reach of an ordinary 
ladder and spraying very difficult or impossible. This class of trees 
is the result of the half hearted standing upon the ground when 
pruning and cutting off such limbs that might be within reach 
close to the body of the tree. This requires little work and looks 
fairly well until the tree reaches maturity when the faults of this 
system are greatly magnified. 
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