Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1911-05-31
RENovArlNG OLD ORCHARDS.
How Old Trees May Be Made Pro-
fitable Bearers.

How Old Trees May Be Made Pro-
fitable Bearers.
There are many hundreds of apple trees
in New England which are not profitabl
to their owners. These trees can easily be
dehorned and pruned so that they will
form new heads down near the ground
which will bear profitable crops before
young trees could be brought into bearing.
The idea of renovating old orchards
started with George A. Drew, OF Green
wlch, Conn.,, and has been taken up and
tried successfully by many fruit growers
and experiment stations.
The trees il very tall should be headed
back at least one-third OF their height.
All dead limbs should be removed; also
the diseased twigs and branches. All the
thick branches should be thinned out so
as to allow the sun and air in among
them, as these are very conducive to good
health.
II the San Jose scale is in the orchard,
the trees should be thinned great deal
heavier. All twigs and branches should
be collected and burned. The coarse and
rough bark should now be scraped of be-
cause many insects winter in the cracks
md also lay eggs there. The trees will also
present healthier appearance with the
rough bark of than with it on. The
wounds made by saving of limbs should
be tarred or painted over with Q thick
lead paint. This is to prevent insects get
ting foothold in the cracks and also to
prevent rotting, which would surely
happen before the wound had time to heal
over il the weather had free access to the
wound.
II the tree is at all diseased 1t should be
sprayed with some soluble oil in the fall
and again in the spring with lime sulphur.
The big secret Of success in spraying is to
spray thoroughly, cover everything on the
tree and cover ii well. II the trees are not
infested with San Jose scale, the lime ana
sulphur should be used two or three years
for tonic il nothing more, because it has
been proven to act very beneficial on trees.
Arsenate OF lead, two pounds in fifty
gallons of water, should be used to combat
the codling moth. Self boiled lime and
sulphur should be used as q fungicide
during the summer in preference to
bordeaux because bordeaux russets the
fruit to large extent.
II the orchard is in sod, 1t had better be
plowed up and cultivated for at least two
years anyway. Use harrow on the or
chard every two weeks until along in July
when cover crop OF buckwheat or some
legume should be sown. Many orchard
lists are using weeds as q cover crop and
find them very satisfactory.
For fertilizers use about $50 pounds nj
trste OF soda, 400 pounds Stag and 200
pounds sulphate of potash every year.
Lime can be used to good advantage every
four or five years. AZ soon as the trees
start bearing, thinning OF fruit should be
practised, and in this way get better and
more fruit because what fruit is left will
attain better size. The watersprouts
should be thinned during the first sum-
mer and great care should be taken at this
time because the shape Of the tree will be
largely determined by this trimmingL
II the variety of fruits is not satisfac-
tory, top grating can be prsctised on
these watersprouts to very great sdvan-
fape