Appendix. 21' 



blown through every pipe, hence making it very convenient for cleaning 

 purposes, especially when using our sulphur and vitriol sprays. 



Now, I presume the most of you know all about thining apples. How- 

 ever, I may be able to make a few suggestions. Thin absolutely to one 

 apple on each fruit spur. If tree is too heavily loaded, leave no two 

 apples closer than four inches apart. Do not forget to thin early; yes, 

 very early, the earlier the better, if you want size to your fruit. The 

 apples thin easier then than at any other time. No scissors or clippers 

 are needed. Thinning early will force a larger growth into the re- 

 maining apples than if the whole cluster of five or seven remained on 

 the same fruit spur until they, were the size of walnuts. 



Begin to thin when the apples are about the size of hazelnuts. This 

 is just a few days after you should have applied your second spray. 

 At this time they will snap off very easily at the outer end of stem. 

 Some growers let their apples get as large as walnuts before they 

 begin thinning. By this time the stem has become very tough, and will 

 not break off easily at outer end, but will split off very easily at the 

 base end. This they do, leaving the base of stem on remaining apple 

 almost entirely surrounded with small scars or wounds. The growth 

 of this apple must then be restricted until nature restores the injury. 

 But some claim that the little stems left around the apple will scar it. 

 This is only theory. On many varieties they will drop off entirely, but 

 on the Esopus Spitzenberg many will remain all the season. For the 

 last three years I have thinned all my apples by breaking them off at 

 the outer end of the stem, and I have never found an injury caused 

 by the remaining stems. It is only occasionally that one of them touches 

 the apple, and if it should it is so small and weak that it can do no 

 injury. 



I feel as though this paper would not be complete if I did not say 

 something about propping and tying up apple trees when too heaviTy 

 loaded with fruit. I discarded all tree props in my nine-year-old or- 

 chard last season. Some of my neighbors said, "You can get along all 

 right this season when the crop is very light, but wait until you get a 

 heavy crop." Well, I have a heavy crop this year ,and still have no 

 props, and as far as I can see, I am all right yet. It sounds nice for 

 an orchardist to tell you that he prunes and thins until his trees will 

 carry all their fruit. I don't do that, and I doubt if many do in our 

 valley. However, I believe in heavy pruning until I get a tree with a 

 large, strong, and well-balanced top, and a short, stout body. But with 

 all of these precautions the apple tree in our valley will bear entirely 

 too heavily, especially while young. 



This being ti'ue, many limbs which are too heavily loaded must be 

 supported by some artificial device. As previously stated, I grow 

 nothing but a hollow-centered tree. The main upright stalks, which are 

 generally from five to seven in number, are fastened together about 

 ten or twelve feet from the ground with screw-eyes and No. 12 galvan- 

 ized iron wire. I also use a three-quarter inch galvanized harness ring 



