322 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



4 GEORGE V., A. 1914 



in each case, one-third of the apples from each tree were boxed and the other two- 

 !;irds were put into barrels. The shipment was made through the Berwick Fruit Co., 

 Ltd. 



The following statement was furnished by the Manager: — 



Berwick, N.S., November 5, 1912. 



Trial lot of apples shipped to London. 



45 boxes packed by the Experimental Station. 



30 barrels packed by the Berwick Fruit Co. 



45 boxes sold for 5/6. Total, net, £7/11/10. (Equal to 81 



cents per box, or $2.43 per barrel) $36.72 



30 barrels sold for 12/6. Total net £10/1 (equal to $1.62 



per barrel) $48.74 



Extra cost of box packing, including cost of boxes, paper, wrapping and 

 extra handling, 15 cents per box; or barrel, 45 cents. 



Packed in boxes, per barrel $2.43 



Less extra cost 45 



$1.98 

 Packed in barrels , 1.62 



Packed in boxes netted (cents per barrel more than those 



packed in barrels) 36 



APPLE THINNING EXPERIMENT. 



To determine whether any gain would result from removing some of the fruit 

 from heavily ladened trees, experiments were conducted during the season in 

 an orchard in Berwick, N.S. The variety in this experiment was Gravenstein. The 

 work of thinning was done on July 30. This was about two weeks after the June drop 

 had occurred. The work should have been started ten days earlier for best results. 

 The trees selected were as nearly alike as it was. possible to get them and they had 

 apparently the same set of fruit. From the thinned trees all spotted and ill-shaped 

 fruits were removed, and only one apple was left to a fruit cluster. The apples were 

 left from four to six inches apart and were evenly distributed over the tree. 



After thinning, the ground under the thinned and unthinned tree was cleaned, and 

 apples falling after that time were counted. This was done to find out whether thin- 

 ning would prevent the excessive dropping which occurs in Gravensteins if they are 

 heavily filled just before the fruit is mature, and also to get the number of apples each 

 tree had on it to start with. A record was kept of the number of apples thinned from 

 the tree. • 



It was found that the thinned tree had 3,137 apples and that the unthinned tree 

 had 4,065 apples when thinning started. 



Drops from thinned and unthinned trees. 



Tree Thinned. Tree not Thinned. 

 Per cent of total set removed by thinning. . . . 18-5 ■ 

 " " which dropped after thin- 

 ning 12-2 19-1 



" " harvested 69-3 80-9 



