DIYISIOX OF HORTICULTURE 



323 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



It will be seen that 19 per cent of the total number of apples on the tree at the 

 start dropped from the unthinned tree and that only 12 per cent fell from the thinned 

 ti-ee. There was a lessened drop of 7 per cent from thinning. This falling for the 

 most part occurred from a little over a week before up to picking time. The fruit 

 was picked on September 20, which was before any serious dropping had occurred. 

 Apples which fell from the tree at picking time were not counted as drops. 



Increase in Size. 



Apples to the barrel from thinned tree. 517 



" unthinned tree 593 



Per cent increase in size from thinning 12-81 



Grade of Fruit. 



Thinned Tree Unthinned Tree. 



No. 1.' 70-00 42 00 



2 23-80 38-65 



3 5-60 16-13 



Culls.. .; -60 3 22 



This table shows that the thinned tree gave an increase of No. 1 fruit of 28 per 

 cent and thinning decreased the No. 3 fruit 10' 53 per cent. 



The thinned tree gave 23-29 per cent less crop than the unthinned tree. It will 

 be seen, however, that at the start the unthinned tree had 22 per cent more apples on 

 it. The actual loss from thinning was, therefore, only 1-29 per cent. 



From an acre of 40 trees the gain from thinning as indicated by this experiment, 

 at prices realized this year, would be as follows: — 



Yield and Value of Fruit per acre. 



This shows a total gain of $71.28. The cost of grading and thinning in the thinned 

 tree was 11J cents per barrel. The cost of grading in the unthinned tree was 10 cents. 

 The thinned fruit cost much less to grade, and, as is shown, the thinning in this 

 experiment cost only 1£ cents per barrel after extra cost of grading the unthinned is 

 deducted. This made a total cost for thinning of $2.62 per acre, giving a net return 

 of $68.66 per acre in favour of thinning. 



Thinning Experiments with Ben Davis, Stark and Greening. 



For this work a commercial block of trees nine years old was used. The orchard 

 had trees of Rhode Island Greening and Stark in straight rows, lengthwise of the 

 block, and Ben Davis were used as fillers. The block was divided into six plots, cross- 



16— 2H 



