24 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



over-Stimulate them by too much tillage or heavy fertilizing. If 

 we allow the tree to load heavily, instead of thinning them out, 

 there will be much less spot. 



Here is an apple which is perfect and another which has been 

 disfigured, dwarfed and russetted by spraying with Bordeaux 

 mixture. Practically no Bordeaux is used in Virginia now 

 except in late summer sprayings for bitter rot. The introduc- 

 tion of the lime sulphur solution for summer spraying has 

 greatly simplified orchard spraying. It was tedious to make and 

 apply Bordeaux. The introduction of lime sulphur as a sum- 

 mer spray has caused more people to spray than would have 

 been possible had Bordeaux remained our standard summer 

 spray. 



Thinning. I have not been able to get old apple trees to bear 

 every year by thinning and I have been trying six years. Old 

 trees are set in their ways. I do not doubt young trees can be 

 made to bear pretty regularly by thinning, but trees which have 

 had their own way for twenty years, bearing alternate years, as 

 most of our Yorks do, cannot be made to bear every year, except 

 with great difficulty. 



There are two things to keep in mind in thinning. One is to 

 thin enough so that you get a grade of apples two and one-half 

 to three inches in diameter; very large apples are not as desir- 

 able as they do not store as well ; thin to secure size and color. 

 The other is to thin so that the limbs will not break. How much 

 more it will pay to thin I do not know. I do know that with the 

 York Imperial, which is much subject to brown spot, the more 

 you thin the more spot you have ; I have abandoned the thin- 

 ning of the York Imperial, except weak trees and those that are 

 excessively loaded. The Winesap, on the other hand, can be 

 thinned to advantage. York Imperials loaded heavily make first- 

 class storage stock, free from brown spot, but if thinned to eight 

 inches apart, as advised in the west, the result is likely to be 

 over-grown, punky and spotted fruit. It depends on the variety 

 and the conditions. 



Harvesting. This is the old way of packing apples and still 

 the most common method, by running them over the table in 

 the orchard. It is open to the serious objection that the fruit 

 and the men are exposed to the weather. We often have hot 

 days at harvest and the apples go into the barrel warm. It takes 



