EXPERIENCE DEPARTMENT
Renovating an Orchard.
1st Premium.—If the land has not been
properly drained this should first be attended to. If the soil is poor give it a
coating of barn-yard manure ln late fall
or early winter, more or less, according
to its needs. It is not likely that the
orchard whioh needs renovating is with,
ont vacanoies. Select varieties that are
known to do well ln yonr vicinity, planting the early kinds nearest the honse, as
very many trips to the orohard for them
will be required dnring the summer and
fall, whilst the winter apples can all be
hanled in at one time. Seenre a continuous snpply, from the earliest on throughout the entire year, especially of the good
keepers.
Of the summer apples two kinds can be
grafted Into one top, whilst of the best
winter varieties it may be desirable to
have three or four trees of one kind. If
the old trees were too olose together for
the fruit to ripen and color np well,
remedy this by placing the new ones at a
proper distance apart, otherwise they
may be put In the same place where the
old ones stood and will grow and bear
well, always provided a large excavation
is made, and fine, rich earth, not manure,
is properly filled in among the roots and
firmed down well. We prefer to plant as
soon as the leaves are off in the fall, as
the roots will then become established
during winter, and they start into growth
withont check in the spring. If a good
muloh is given at the same time it promotes root growth and is a great protection from drouth during the following
summer, after whioh time it will generally make rapid growth.
Oo through the old trees carefully, removing all dead and decaying branches,
shaping up the old tops into as well balanced beads as possible, to seenre them
against winds and strengthen them for
the weight of frnit they are sure to bear.
Often one lone branoh will bear all the
nioe fruit the family will need until a
new tree of the same variety will come
Into bearing. Even a water sprout, if
oarefully looked after and kept thinned
ont, and in shape, so that no vitality is
wasted in making superfluous wood, to
be cut out before it can bear, will make
a very satisfactory makeshift, and bear
good orops.
If old trunks are rough and moes covered, scrape the loose bark off, and apply
either a lime wash, strong soap dissolved
lye, or Bordeaux mixture, to destroy fungus, and the eggs and larvae of inseots
which are deposited therein.
Pear trees that have escaped fire blight,
yet bear full of scabby and cracked frnit,
may be remedied by thoronghly thinning
out the tips, letting in the air and sunlight, and spraying with Bardeaux mixture.
Cherry trees which are so old, large
and tender as to be unsafe to olimb and
out of reaoh of a 20 foot ladder, may safely and profltaoly have their long branches sawed off at a satisfactory height, and
the frnit picked at leisure on terra flrma.
New shoots will start out at once, and
will bear finer fruit than the old ones
'rom the very first year. One or two only may be cut from each tree eaoh year
" preferred, thus keeping large bearing
■wood until new tops are formed.
We take it for granted the orchard is in
grass. This should not be out and hanled
off, nor pastured close. Mow beneath all
treea as the fruit ripens.to facilitate plok-
tog fruit up, and mulch other trees with
!'. or replace after the fruit is gone.
If hogs are secured from rooting lt is a
8'eat advantage to have them piok up all
defective and wormy fruit. Aside from
th»t, we like a nice clean swa_d, if well
top dresstd with stable manure eaoh fall
yon may confidently expect a f nU crop of
frnit  every  fruit year, and fine fruit if
spraying is done promptly.
Old Farmer
2d Premium.—This is a subjeot that has
been sadly neglected and many of our
old orohards are almost past renovating,
where they have been left forjyears and
are grown np ln weeds and grass. The
first thing to be done is to get rid of the
grass and weeds. To do this we will de-
stioy more or less of those little feeding
roots whioh are near the surface, and we
can't help It. I would use a breaking
plow first, going just as shallow as possible to turn them under, then use a disk or
spading harrow to fill all the little spaces
to hold the moisture. After it is thoronghly pulverized we are ready for a
good ooat of mannre to be scattered
evenly all over the gronnd, with a pretty good sprinkle of ashes and salt. The
ashes needn't be stinted in the amount
and the salt may be sown thiok enongh
to be seen.
If anything is planted in the orohard it
shonld be first potatoes or some orop that
oan be attended with a small-toothed implement, so as not to disturb those little
feeding rootlets of the orohard. The
orchard should have all the dead limbs
taken ont, and tops thinned, so as to admit of the free circulation of air through
them, The limbs shonld be cat olose so
they will soon heal over, but not close
enough to Injure the bark of the body or
other limbs. It should be tilled annually
or sown to olover and the clover turned
under as shallow as possible, keeping in
mind those little rootlets or feeders.—
Don't turn in stock of any kind to tramp
the soil hard, unless it is small pigs; they
might eat up the falling fruit and destroy the worms, eto. If large limbs are
to be removed they might be painted
over white lead, so as keep the wood
sound until healed over. You might just
as well expect corn to make a crop in a
grass sod as an orchard to bear a crop of
nice fruit treated the same way.
Hamilton Co. Jesse Cox.
3d Premium.--Twelve years ago I bought
one of the most dilapidated little farms
to be fonnd in Ihdiana; the orchard wag
in a worse condition even than the fences
and buildings, with the prunings of
former years lying nnder the trees. My
first work was to cut down and burn 11
old worthless cherry trees that never
bore a quart of good cherries to the tree.
Then I pruned the apple trees and burned
up all the brush; the old and the new.
When the fruiting season came I found
several of the trees were seedling apples
and absolutely worthless, not fit even for
vinegar. Such of these that could be,
were grafted, a few were cut down and
burned. The orchard did not appear
healthy. The foliage did not have the
rioh green tint it should, and on some of
the trees it wonld turn yellow, and begin
to fall before the end of June. For three
years one fine bodied tree bloomed bountifully, but bore only little scabby apples.
One summer day, the former owner was
walking with me ln the orchard, I re.
marked to him that I was going to cut it
down, and said I could not see why any
one should let sneh a worthless tree stand
so long. "Why, that is an early harvest
apple, it used to bear fine frnit, but the
early harvest wouldn't do any good any
more In this country," he said. "If that
is an early harvest tree and used to bear
good fruit it shall do so again," I replied.
I began feeding my hogs in the orchard,
feeding heavily under the early harvest
tree. The first year I conld see but little
effect, but kept on feeding there. Then
the foilage began to tane, a rich green
hue, and ceased to turn yellow and fall
in June; the apples grew to their wonted
size, perfect In every respect, and not a
scabby apple to be found on the tree. The
only fault I now find with the tree Is lt
bears  too heavily, and   almost   every
year.   Cut out  all  dead  brandies; cut
down all  worthless trees;  burn  everything up and feed the hogs in the orchard,
Marshall Co. Wm. It. D.
In '93 we came in possession of an old
orohard, which upon first thought we
oonoluded to sow down in blue and make
a permanent pasture of lt, regardless of
fruit or trees. But on examining more
olosely we found there were 25 old trees
that were sound and that might with
proper culture bs made to furnish us all
the apples we would need. Among them
are four Ben Davis, one Maiden Blush,
two Vandevers, one Kambo and others
equally as good. The first thing we did
to renovate was to use the ax and saw
without stint, outtlng and burning all
faulty trees and limbs; also water sprouts
and low limbs that would interfere in
plowing close to trees. Any time when
the sap is down it will do to trim. In the
winter of '93 wo commenced to manure
thoroughly, especially around the trees
while ground is frozen. Then tho winter
of '91 and '95 we fed hogs and cattle in it
when not Bolt. In the spring of '95 we
took out a partition fence between it and
the adjoining field, and planted in corn
and sowed in rye, and last spring In clover and timothy, so it is in clover at present. By the way we have manured
around the tTees every winter with fresh
stable mannre, this year have left four
trees without manure to see If we could
tell any difference. Will say that for
two years we have had more nice fruit
than could make use of. Had all we
oould use all last winter. T. M. S.
Madison Co.
apple orchard and put nothing back, ln
the shape of fertllitv, and reap a paying
harvest. If we feed our trees they will
feed uf, and vice versa. But the prloe of
good, sound fruit, and enough of it, from
this time on is "eternal vigllanoe."
Putnam Co. H. S. Blatoiilev.
To renovate an old orchard the first
thing is to get all the old worthless trees
cut down and burn them, and as the old
orchard goes down there should be a good
location picked out somewhere else on
the farm and good yonng trees set out. I
don't think it is of muoh use to set young
trees In an old orchard, for they are sure
to be neglected and not cultivated as they
should be, I think lhat an orchard to be
profitable shonld be kept well trimmed,
manur.d and cultivated. I believe that
manure is better for an orohard than fertilizer, because I think lt contains more
of the elements suitable for an orchard
than any one kind of fertilizer. An orchard shonld not be left so long as to require what I call renovation,but lt should
have eome attention every year and more
often, if needed. If large limbs get split
down any way, I think they should be
entirely severed from the tree immediately and not left hanging in the tree as
so many people dountilspring when they
clean up the orchard. David.
The way I proceed is something like
this: Remove carefully all dead branches
and thin out the top sufficiently to let in
the sun and air. Scrape the body of the
treo and the main branches with a long-
handed hoe and then remove all dead
bark and moss. Apply a wash of diluted
softsoap, or else give the trees a coating
ot limewash. If I cultivate or plow under
the trees I do lt shallow, so as not to
break or disturb the root. Haul in all the
ashes bath bleached and unbleached to
be had, and then mulch the trees so far
out as the limbs extend with old rotten
straw, corn-stalks, coarse mannre, leaves
from woods, or anything that will shade
the gronnd and conserve moisture and
prevent evaporation. This mulch is a
benefit in various ways, the fruit hangs
on better, is of much better quality, and
it keeps the frnit from bruising as it falls
from the tree; and as it decays it enriches the ground and gives new life,
energy, vitality, and productions. Then
spray the trees thoroughly some two or
three limes, and thin tbe fruit where lt
needs it, and you will be astonished at
the result. The day is past when here ln
Indiana we can take everything off an
Cultivate every year; apply a heavy
dressing of stablo manure in the fall if
level; but if rolling, as early ln spring as
possible, and turn under. X. Y.
I bought my first fruit trees ln 1862
One hundred trees, two years old, 00 winter, 20 summor, and 20 fall varieties.
Trees were somewhat neglected for want
of pruning and cultivation, as several of
the nursery hands had enlisted ln the
army. I planted the trees on new, fresh,
cleared, white oak land and headed tbem
ln low down, making them short bodied
and spready tops; cultivated them well
for seven years, and was rewarded with
abundant crops of fruit for three or four
years. Seeded the orohard down to clover
and It soon became a stiff sod of blue
grasB, rod-top and timothy.
Then my orchard began to fall in fruit,
and my treea began to die, here and there,
ovor tho orchard. I never Raftered stock
of any kind In the orchard at any time,
and as my apple crop gradually failed
and several fine largo trees died, I concluded to re-aet with pear trees, sotting
them 10 feet apart, leaving a few old apple trees, expecting them to die soon.
But when I began to cultivate and prepare the ground for the pear trees, the
old apple trees began to take on new life
and bear more fruit and look more
healthy. And now that portion of the
orchard is entirely too thick to do well.
The now points in the renovation of
orchards are continued cultivation and
proper fertilization. It ls folly to buy
good trees and fall to take proper care of
them and expect remunerative crops, and
retain healthy, vigorous trees.
The proper renovation of orchards is to
buy first-class stock of responsible nurserymen, take proper care in planting out,
pruning, cultivating, fertilizing, spraying
and keeping insect pests and the much
talked of fungns diseases from the
trees by a better care of them.
Jackson Co. D. M. Lett.
The surest and best way to renovate an
old orohard is|to pick a suitable location
somewhero else on the farm for the
young trees and let the old orchard
stand to Itself. The dead trees should be
cut out and the green, sound trees should
be oared for as long as they are profitable.
Young trees when set In an old orohard
generally die in a few years. AH the nutrition that Is required for the growth of
the tree has been absorbed by the old
trees.
There are but few old orchards In these
parts that are not worn out long before
the trees are all dead.
We should manure and fertilize our
orchards just as we do our other crops, If
we expeot large, nice fruit and plenty
of it.
For the flrst few years we might raise a
few crops of corn as we cultivate the
orchard, or a few rows of strawberries or
raspberries. Peach trees can be set between the apple trees, and till the apple
trees come into bearing most ofthe peach
trees will be out of the way. When the
trees have commenced bearing sow oow
peas or crimson clover ana let lt rot on
the ground. We cannot take a crop of
hay from the orchard every year and expect to get a crop of apples too.
Apple trees should be set at least 35
feet apart; 40 ls better. W. B.
Corydon.
If the trees stand too closely together,
as they may be found  to do after they
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