18 DiEECTOE^s Report of the 



of profit from thinning fruit in orchards which are well cared for 



19 to be looked for chiefly in preventing the breaking of over- 

 loaded limbs and in the increased market value of the fruit of the 

 current season. 



Thimiing, to be most effective, should be done early in the 

 reason — at the time Baldwins and Greenings are from three- 

 fourths of an inch -to an inch in diameter. In New York State it 

 should be completed in June. 



Thinning stone fruits. — Experiments in thinning apricots, 

 plums and peaches have been in progress three seasons. With these 

 fruits as with apples the effect of thinning is not always as pro- 

 nounced the following year as had been expected. In some cases 

 there appeared to be real permanent advantage and an increased 

 yield in succeeding seasons, and again the effect, if any, on the 

 crop of the following year, was in some cases obscured by causes 

 not understood and no advantage from the previous year's thin- 

 ning of the fruit could be seen. In some cases trees which were 

 heavily loaded and not thinned gave even greater yields the fol- 

 lowing season than were obtained from corresponding trees on 

 which the fruit had been severely thinned. 



Early and severe thinning in general increased the percentage 

 of the higher grades of fruit. Where the fruit grower can obtain 

 correspondingly better prices for fancy fruit the thinning may 

 doubtless be made profitable with selected varieties of peaches 

 and apricots and in some cases with plums also. 



Chemical analyses of fruits which were picked at different 

 stages were made in the chemical department which showed that 

 the amount of potash in the fruit of one variety of peach in- 

 creased 493 per ct. from June 24 to July 21. The nitrogen in- 

 creased 240 per ct. and the phosphoric acid 327 per ct. in the 

 same period. The amount of potash in the fruit of a certain 

 variety of plum increased in the same period 296 per ct., the 

 nitrogen 222 per ct. and the phosphoric acid 156 per ct. This 

 indicates how rapidly the fruits take up plant food in the very 



