The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1910-12-26
REVIVE ORCHARDS
BY SURGERY
Old Eastern Apple Orchards
Given New Life by :
George Drew.

The possibility of reviving old or
chards and stimulating apparently
dead trees until they bear good crops
of apples again, is discussed in the
last number of the Saturday Evening
Post. Attention is called to the arti-
Gle as of interest to local growers.
Reclamation work is being done
in the old and abandoned orchards Of
the east by a clever young horticul-
turist, whose theories set aside the
arguments of the ultra-conservative
investors in this section who can see
nothing but ruin ahead for local APP
pie growers. The article is much too
long for reproduction, but it is one
we'll worth reading by the rancher
of any fruit district, and many parts
of it are particularly applicable here.
A young man, George Drew, of
Greenwich, Conn, is the originator
of this latest conservation" enter
prise. BY his experiments he has,
in a word, reclaimed hundreds of de-
serted apple orchards in the New
England states, which for years have
been nothing more than landmarks
on the properties of their owners.
and productive of no more fruit than
could be turned into an inferior
grade of cider These orchards he
has placed upon commercial basis
and, without exception, the ones he
has operated upon are yielding net
profits commensurate with the ex-
pense of their care.
Dead Trees Revived.
From the first he began his work
on a small scale, but used for his
subjects the toughest old specimens
of tree degeneracy to be found in
the ancient New England farming
country He started with veterans
of from 20 to so years of age, whose
gnarled branches reached from 60
to 100 feet into the air. He also be-
gan his battle against additional
odds of San Jose scale and many
other tree plaques, for these veterans
had long been exposed to every pest
known to horticulture. He made no
effort to combat these plaques until
their victims were pruned and cut
near enogh to the ground to enable
spraying on an economical basis. In
many instances he cut 80 and 40
feet out of the tops of such trees
and trimmed the lower branches to
encourage growth out and around.
Wounds thus made were sealed and
dressed with preparations of thick
paint and tar.
When trees showed a tendency to
weaken under such surgery they
were set in splints consisting of
small steel rods which were passed
through the main branches just
above the first crotch. These rods
were equipped with ordinary nuts
and washers at one end which could
be frightened at will without injuring
the bark of the tree.
When spraying was begun it was
conducted nersistently and thorough
ly. The trees were thoroughly freed
from the plaques which infested
them, and kept. freed.
Inc nrSt year AFTER SuCn re1uFena-
tion small water shoots, sprouts and
buds put in their appearance to re-
inforce the already healthy branches
spared from the pruning knife. Two
years after the beginning of his res
toratlon work on a badly neglected
orchard of 200 trees, which were
fully 80 years old, a crop of 500
barrels of choice hand-picked fruit
was harvested. The surgery also i'm
proved the fiber, flavor and size of
the fruit.
Everywhere Successful.
Mr.. Drew says that old trees may
be revived in this manner in any
fruit section of the country. He says
the work can be done at an ex-
pense much less than the cost of rails
ing a new orchard. He says that
the second life of the resurrected
trees should be from 10 to Is years,
and if they are properly cared for,
and that SO long as the soil remains
fertile and the roots healthy the
process may be repeated many times.