Last updated: October 13, 2022
Article
Defining Orchards
NPS
Overview
Like other cultural resources, historic orchards and fruit trees possess a combination of tangible and intangible features, qualities, and values. Historic orchards, a group of fruit trees, or a single fruit tree may be found eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. Orchards or fruit trees can be listed individually or as a contributing feature that is part of a larger historic property.
Like other cultural landscapes, orchards may be listed on the National Register as historic districts or historic sites. A group of trees or a single tree may be listed indivually as a historic site. If an orchard or fruit trees lack individual distinction but contributes to the significance and integrity of a larger property, then it can be included in a National Register nomination as a contributing feature to a historic district or site.
The following definitions from Fruitful Legacy and the National Park Service are useful for understanding how cultural resource professionals document, evaluate, and preserve historic fruit trees in national parks.
Glossary
Intro to Orchards and Fruit Trees
While orchards have existed in a variety of forms in the United States since the 1600s, specific characteristics depend on period, history, region, and growing conditions.
Regardless of when it originated, any orchard is a horticultural system centered upon a plantation of woody trees of fruits or nuts. Banana, pineapple, palms, and other non-woody or monocotyledonous commercial fruits are excluded from this definition.
The plantation may have been raised from seed or from young trees planted out, and may have a regular geometry or no geometry at all depending on its period, history, and growing conditions. An orchard may be a complex horticultural system with a number of landscape characteristics and features or be a relatively simple system with few landscape characteristics.
A complex orchard is a horticultural system consisting of a plantation of trees of one or a number of species, and one or a number of varieties.
A complex orchard may have a complex spatial organization, such as having multiple blocks of fruit trees of various spacing, and may have a number of associated use areas, such as pasture for grazing livestock to provide manure for the orchard, fruit and equipment storage areas, and residential and garden areas. A complex orchard may also have a circulation system, an irrigation system, an array of buildings and structures, a cover crop for the orchard floor, and a boundary system for browse or wind protection or for property delineation.
A simple orchard is a horticultural system consisting largely of a small plantation of trees of one or numerous species, and one or numerous varieties, and a ground cover. Historically, farm orchards were five acres in size or less, which was an adequate size to supply a farm family for a year.
Commercial orchards were typically larger than five acres, sized to raise large quantities of fruit for sale and consumption elsewhere. Commercial orchards have been typically more complex horticultural systems than farm orchards, largely due to their scale of operation. However, farm orchards may have more or less complexity.
Fruit trees are distinguished from orchards here in order to emphasize that orchards are horticultural systems and fruit trees are not.
Fruit trees may exist in small groups where they were deliberately planted, or they may be irregularly distributed when they are the remnants of a fragmented, former orchard. In either case, the extant trees cannot be identified as an orchard, but rather as a planting or a remnant orchard. In both cases, the fruit trees are not intact horticultural systems (or never were, in the case of small plantings) and do not have a complement of landscape characteristics.
Landscape characteristics are the processes and patterns on the land that are the tangible evidence of the activities and habits of the people who occupied, developed, and shaped the land to serve human needs.
Like other cultural landscapes, an orchard's physical substance can be described by its landscape characteristics. An orchard or fruit tree's association with the past is manifested in these characteristics, forming the basis of an evaluation of integrity.
Cultural Landscape Characteristics:
- Natural systems and features
- Spatial organization
- Land use
- Circulation
- Cultural traditions
- Topography
- Vegetation
- Cluster arrangement
- Buildings and structures
- Views and vistas
- Constructed water features
- Archeological sites
- Small-scale features
Essential Terms and Definitions
The abbreviated term for a "cultivated variety." A human-created variation within a species. The name of the cultivar follows the genus and species and is denoted by single quotation marks. In the cultivar name, the initial letters are capitalized and the name is not italicized, e.g., Pyrus communis 'Winter Bartlett' (see also: "variety").
A commercial horticulture term for dwarfing rootstocks that are clones or genetically identical to each other. Dwarfing rootstocks are cloned to perpetuate desirable characteristics and to guarantee a rootstock's ability to confer these characteristics upon the scion, such as extent of dwarfness, disease resistance, and youthful bearing of fruit.
The scion portion of a tree propagated by grafting. A clone is genetically identical to the parent. Clones, as opposed to seedlings, do not have genetic variation (see also: "scion").
The NPS recognizes five categories of cultural resources: archeological resources, cultural landscapes, historic structures, museum objects and ethnographic resources. Orchards or fruit trees in the national parks are associated with cultural landscapes or archeological sites.
A rootstock that limits the height of a grafted tree to be shorter than the standard height (see also: "dwarf tree").
A tree grown on a rootstock that limits its final height to be shorter than the standard height. Dwarf trees are generally classified as semi-standard, about two thirds of standard height; semi dwarf, about half of standard height; and dwarf, about one third of standard height.
A method of training and pruning trees in which branches are trained horizontally in a single plane, usually against a wall, fence or trellis.
National Register term for the process by which the significance and integrity of a historic property are judged and eligibility for listing in the National Register of Historic Places is determined.
The genetic material, especially its specific molecular and chemical constitution that forms the physical basis of heredity and is transmitted from one gene ration to the next. When applied to plants, it is the term given to seed or any vegetative material from which plants can be propagated.
A method of propagation in which two different plants are joined together in order to take advantage of the special characteristics of each (see also: "rootstock" and "scion").
The joint between the two parts of the grafted tree which have grown together. When visible, the union appears as a line, scar, indent, or change in bark pattern on the tree trunk. The height of the graft union on the trunk has varied over time, and during the 19th century, was commonly buried at planting (see also: "grafting").
National Register term for an organizing structure for interpreting history that groups information about historic properties which share a common theme, common geographical area, and a common time period. The development of historic contexts is a foundation for decisions about the planning, identification, evaluation, registration, and treatment of historic properties, based upon comparative historic significance.
National Register term for the unimpaired ability of a property to convey its historical significance. Integrity is a measure of the physical authenticity of a historic property or cultural resource.
National Register term for the value or importance of a historic property within the patterns of American history, in relation to a historic context. Significance may be in association with important events or persons, or for importance in design or construction, or tor intormation potential.
A grafting method in which the rootstock and scion are joined by an intermediate graft, known as the interstem (see also: "grafting").
The term for a tree with a scaffold borne upon a short trunk. The head or point of attachment of the main branches to the trunk is set by pruning in the first or second year after planting. The practice of low heading or creating fruit trees with a low head on a short trunk, was used to control the height in the transition from standard to dwarf trees between 1881 and 1945.
The Nation's official list of cultural resources worthy of preservation. Authorized under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Register is part of a national program to coordinate and support
public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect our historic and archeological resources. Properties listed in the Register include districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects that are significant in American history, architecture, archeology, engineering, and culture. The National Register is administered by the National Park Service, which is part of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
A term used to describe the ability of some plant species to sexually reproduce outside of their native ecosystems, i.e., their ability to sexually reproduce themselves as non-native or exotic plants.
An alcoholic beverage made of fermented pear juice. It is similar to cider, in that it is made using a similar process and often has a similar alcoholic content, around 8.5 percent alcohol by volume. The word is derived from the French, poiré.
The scientific study and cultivation of fruits, particular tree fruits.
National Register term for the process by which a historic property is documented and nominated or determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Histor ic Places.
The term used in grafting to refer to the root system (see also: "scion").
The framework of major branches growing from the trunk on a tree.
The term used in grafting to refer to the upper portion of the graft, typically the aerial portion of the grafted tree.
A tree grown from seed.
A genetic variation on a part of a tree, such as a limb, with different characteristics, such as redder fruit.
A strain of a variety manifested as trees with more fruit-bearing spurs and fewer vegetative shoots than the parent variety.
A tree grown on its own roots or grafted to a seedling rootstock that allows the tree to reach its natural height (see also: "dwarf tree").
A variation within a specific variety or a specific cultivar (see also: "variety" and "cultivar").
A naturally occurring variation within a species. The variety name is a Latin name written after the genus and species. The variety name is italicized along with the genus and species, e.g., Prunus cerasifera atropurpurea (see also: "cultivar").
The process of producing a new plant from a portion of another plant, such as a stem or a branch. Also known as asexual reproduction, the process does not involve the mixing of genes from different parents as in sexual reproduction. The new offspring is genetically identical or a clone of the parent.
The term for an unbranched young tree typically one to two years old.
Care and Maintenance Terms
The process of identifying historic orchards and fruit trees involves historical research, field work, and documentation, followed by analysis and evaluation of significance and integrity.
The products of initial identification may be an inventory document, such as the NPS Cultural Landscape Inventory (CLI), or a Determination of Eligibility form (DOE). The CLI and DOE are both mechanisms for obtaining consensus determinations of National Register eligibility through the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) of Tribal Historic Preservation Office (THPO). A SHPO or THPO consensus determination may lead to the preparation of a National Register nomination and subsequent listing through the Keeper in the National Register of Historic Places.
Following identification, cultural resources management policy calls for the protection and preservation of cultural resources using techniques of preservation maintenance, repair, and replacement in-kind to perpetuate the same design, scale, form, and materials over time.
Preservation maintenance actions for a historic orchard or fruit trees may involve all or some of these activities:
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winter and/or summer pruning
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weeding
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aerating
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mowing
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cultivating
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mulching
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integrated pest management
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fruit thinning
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fruit harvesting
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irrigating
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fertilizing
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monitoring
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documenting
Preservation maintenance objectives for a specific orchard or fruit trees may be detailed in an Orchard Management Plan. This type of plan describes the history, significance, and existing conditions of an orchard or fruit trees, and it can define management objectives and describe maintenance regimens for preservation, or to implement restoration or rehabilitiation treatments.
Stabilization is an interim step involving actions of temporary longevity to prevent further deterioration of the condition of a resource.
Stabilization actions in historic orchards or fruit trees may involve:
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deadwood removal
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bracing
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sucker removal
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encroaching vegetation removal
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brush-hogging
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mowing or aerating the orchard floor
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irrigating
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mulching
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germplasm conservation
The four types of treatments defined by NPS cultural resources management policy and the Secretary of the Interior's Standards are preservation, restoration, rehabilitation, and reconstruction.
- Preservation standards require retention of the greatest amount of historic fabric, including the landscape's historic form, features, and details as they have evolved over time.
- Restoration standards allow for the depiction of a landscape at a particular time in its history by preserving materials from the period of significance and removing materials from other periods.
- Rehabilitation standards acknowledge the need to alter or add to a cultural landscape to accommodate continuing or new uses while retaining the landscape's historic character.
- Reconstruction standards establish a framework for recreating a vanished or non-surviving landscape with new materials, primarily for interpretive purposes.
When cultural resource management objectives of an orchard or fruit tree involve treatments other than preservation maintenance, a treatment plan is prepared. This defines the type of treatment and provides recommendations or actions needed to implement the treatment. The treatment plan for an orchard or fruit trees may be part of a Cultural Landscape Report (CLR), or an Orchard Management Plan may be prepared to provide more detailed information on the implementation of a treatement plan.
Germplasm conservation preserves the genes of each variety and each species (full complement of genotypes) present, in perpetuity, and it is recommended as a long-term preservation strategy for a significant orchard, group of fruit trees or single fruit tree.
Conservation can be achieved by two means:
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through a living collection of trees representing all of the genotypes of the orchard or fruit trees and maintained off-site, such as in a plant nursery.
- through cryogenic means, involving the USDA National Plant Germ plasm Repositories. Cryogenically conserved germ plasm is plant tissue held at sub-zero temperatures in liquid nitrogen, which can be thawed later and used to propagate replacement trees.
Germplasm conservation uses fruit tree cuttings from the scion. All scions of the same variety have the same genotype and therefore it is unnecessary to conserve the germplasm of every scion in an orchard or a group of fruit trees. Instead, germplasm conservation should focus on preserving each variety within each species present.
Germ plasm cuttings are taken from dormant shoots with several replicates (multiple individuals) of the
same species and same variety during the dormant season. Conservation using the USDA National Plant Germplasm Repositories will involve the development of a partnership agreement with the agency.