66 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



solution better than quick lime and is less apt to have carbonate 

 of lime in it. If you use hydrated lime, put in 67 pounds instead 

 of 50, since hydrated lime is one-third water. The home-made 

 solution costs me $3 a barrel and tests an average of 29 degrees ; 

 it is diluted in proportion to the ratio it bears to the standard 32 

 degree commercial solution. 



Bracing limbs. The limbs of our apple trees are very brittle ; 

 they are not as tough as the limbs of your Baldwins. So we 

 resort to w'iring them instead of propping. In the center of each 

 tree, about eight feet above the crotch, there is a small iron 

 ring, from which wires radiate in all directions to the main 

 limbs so as to brace one another. The wires are attached to 

 the limbs by screw-eyes. This we have found much better 

 than propping. There is less breakage and it is a permanent 

 improvement. Props rot and break. 



Thinning. I wish to say a word more about thinning. This 

 is another proposition that has been imported bodily from the 

 west; we have been told that we should thin apples to eight 

 inches apart, as they do in Oregon. I am not sure whether we 

 ought to or not. at least with certain varieties. I have been 

 thinning for five years and have come to the conclusion not to 

 thin the York Imperial again unless the tree is very heavily 

 loaded or is weak. Certain varieties, including the York Impe- 

 rial, sell better if of medium size rather than large size. If we 

 should thin Yorks to eight inches apart, the distance recom- 

 mended in the west, they would be over-grown, lop-sided, and 

 speckled with brown spot. If we leave them nearly as they 

 set, almost touching one another, we get good medium two and 

 one-half to three inch fruit, which keeps well and sells well. 

 It is better to get that crop and let the tree rest a year, if 

 necessary, than to thin it every year and get a lot of over- 

 grown, spotted fruit each year. 



With the Winesap and some other varieties, thinning pays, 

 if the tree is overloaded. It does not seem to have any effect 

 on the quality of the fruit of these varieties. So, I say, thin- 

 ning must be done with discrimination, if at all. 



We have one advantage in Virginia that is not enjoyed 



everywhere; our long picking season. We can begin picking 



near the middle of September and continue until the last of 



