118 STATE BOARD OF AGEICULTUEE. 



ever watchful eye to the proper distribution of fruit through the top of the tree, 

 is at least the only efficient metliod known to us. As we proceed to work with 

 our ladders and stools we discover at once the great convenience of low-headed 

 trees ; and tlie break -neck folly of climbing twenty or thirty feet above the 

 earth for fruit that can be more cheaply raised within reach by a seven-foot 

 ladder. It tries the nerve when one is required to pick from a well-loaded tree 

 where the peaches almost touch each other, until they are separated by spaces 

 of about six inches, to be varied slightly as judgment under the circumstances 

 may dictate. I once asked a St. Joseph fruit-grower how to thin fruit. He 

 replied: "Take a club and knock off all you can see — then pick off three- 

 fourths of what remain," — meaning in metaphor that the thinning should be 

 very thorough. I have given heed to this admonition ever since. Some varie- 

 ties, like the Early Crawford, bear their fruit in clusters, and often require 

 thinning even when there is not a sufficient number set for a full crop. Each 

 individual peach must have full free space for development. Then, if the con- 

 ditions of climate, soil, and culture are favorable, we shall have a jjroduction to 

 delight all eyes — something we would not be ashamed to send to our centennial 

 world's exposition — a fair testimonial of the charms and graces being wrought 

 by the hand of intelligent labor joined to the infinite skill of a Higher Artist, 

 within the lake-bound borders of Michigan. 



DISCUSSION. 



Dr. Kedzie. — Suppose you have two trees just of a size and equally loaded 

 with fruit, and you thin one and do not the other, which will bear the great- 

 est weight of fruit? Of course the question of quality is not raised. 



Mr. Dyckman. — I should think it would depend very much upon the season. 

 If the weather is extremely dry I should think the properly thinned tree would 

 outbear the other ; feut if everything was favorable to growth, the tree not 

 thinned would probably produce the most. 



Dr. Kedzie. — AVhat would be the effect upon the tree not thinned? 



Mr. Dyckman. — It takes a peach-tree a long time to get over the effects of 

 having been overburdened. 



Dr. Kedzie. — Here is a point I want to bring out. A large proportion of the 

 poach is made up of pit, and the formation of the seed of anything is a very 

 exhausting process. The large number of pits on a tree not thinned must bo 

 exceedingly exhausting. There is another strong argument in favor of thinning, 

 and that is the value of a peach croji is not in the pit but it is in the amount of 

 flesh. 



Prof. Cook. — I noticed in the New York Tribune not long since that by a 

 judicious process of thinning, trees which had only borne biennially could be 

 miwle to bear annually. 



Mr. Dyckman. — My experience is that peach-trees bear annually when the 

 season is favorable, but there are certain varieties of apple-trees which only bear 

 biennially. 



Mr. Loomis. — Have you ever practiced cutting back young trees? 



Mr. Dyckman. — Do you mean the present year's growth? No, sir; I prune 

 entirely by thinning. I never shorten a young or an old tree, but I thin by 

 cutting off the lateral branches. 



Mr. Loomis. — What is the best time for pruning apple-trees? 



Mr. Dyckman. — There are a great many opinions about it, but I am inclined 

 to think that tliey sliould be pruned very early in the season, before they Etart 

 to grow in the spring. 



