The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1914-01-20
RENovATING OLD ORCHARDS.
What One Man Accomplished by Prun-
ing, Spraying and Other Processes

ing, Spraying and Other Processes
Old orchards of about so trees are
numerous. They are found on most all
farms, where they usually have such a
mental position as being an eyesore to
the farm, serving as a place for some of
the farm Junk, or as an exercise place
| for hogs and other farm stock, says the
Michigan Farmer Well-cared-for and
profitable farm orchards of this size are
scarce, undoubtedly because most people
believe them too small to bother with
or too far gone to bring back. So when
big success of this kind is found, it is
worthy of mention.
Frank Howard of Berrien county has
made such a success. When he bought
his farm it had the usual farm orchard
on it, which had about 81 trees on it,
consisting of Baldwins, Spys, Greetings
and Russets Like most orchards of its
kind it seemed hopeless case, but Mr..
Howard is firm believer in the posi-
bilities of old orchards and in the say
ing, where there is life there is hope"
80 he started Immediately at the process
OF renovation As a result he has made
the orchard come back" made it pay
him good profit, and has brought fame
upon himself in the fruit district Il the
southwestern part of the state by MS ac-
complishment.
His first procedure was to give the
orchard heavy pruning. He literally
pruned the daylight into the trees, many
Of the tops being cut back 10 to IL feet.
In this he took especial care to make all
the cuts slanting so that the water
would drain off, and then thoroughly
painted all of the larger wounds. This
was wise precaution on his part, as
due to the heavy cutting he did, many
of the wounds would have otherwise
rotted back; Water sprouts started
freely the first year; these he kept well
thinned out, leaving only those which
were we'll placed for branches. 1t was
an average of three years before most of
these new branches started bearing.
On the subject of spraying Mr.. How
ard is crank 1t was this fact, though,
that made it possible for him to get such
good results from his orchard. Like other
successful orchardsts he realized that
spraying is the most important factor
in both orchard renovation and the
growing of good fruit. For the first few
years of his orchard work he sprayed
four times. While he got very good re-
suits from that number of sprayings, he
wanted still better, so he increased the
number of applications to seven, and
sprayed eight times each year. Mr.. How
ard is very particular about getting his
spray on at the right time, and will
leave all other work to be on the job
when that time is at hand
During the 10 years-l90l to 1910 in
elusive-Mr. Towards apples brought
him over $4,000, or little more than
500 per tree, and during the past II
years his orchard has never failed to
produce a crop. Except in 1901, when
his crop amounted to l2l barrels, the
figures have never been less than 225
barrels per year, and have run as high
as 1872 barrels. This maximum crop was
raised in 1911, and brought 81 $50. For
1912 the crop was $50 barrels. netting
$500, and the past seasons production
was 500 barrels which netted him ST.
325. The crops for the past three years
were from only 40 trees as a few wears
ago Mr.. Howard had to cut out some
of the old timers. A fact that he should
be proud of is that his apples have aver
aged him 90 per cent. No ]. One tree !
produced a crop of 2S& standard bar /
rels of apples in 1911. This illustrates !
the productive possibilities of old trees
under good care. The results Mr.. How
lrd has attained with his old trees show |
the possibilities that are hidden in old, |
neglected orchards, and strongly sug- |
yest that many of us. are neglecting our 1
by not taking care of these I
Did farm orchards. It also stands as an
object lesson of what perseverance and |
,horoughness can accomplish.