202 State Horticultural Society. 



IMPROVED BY THINNING. 



Experiments along the line of thinning of apples have been conducted 

 by the Experiment Station at Geneva, and the results show that the fruit 

 is much improved by thinning. The number of cells and drops is de- 

 creased over half, and there is more of A No. i fruit. The second-class 

 fruit is less, but it is out of the No. i fruit that most of the profit comes. 

 They find that it costs 50 cents or less to pick a tree and that the market 

 value of the fruit is increased about 10 or 15 per cent. The apples were 

 thinned when about i| inhces in diameter, and from 3 to 4 weeks after the 

 fruit was set. For the finest quality they found it best to thin the fruit to 

 about 5 or 6 inches apart. Peaches are generally thinned to about the 

 same distance. In the case of a light crop the tree is able to fully de- 

 velop all the fruit, so it does not pay to, but in the case of a full crop, you 

 can save your tree and raise the quality of the fruit at the same time by 

 careful thinning. To derive the most good by thinning, the fruit should 

 be thinned when rather small. Many people consider it a waste of money 

 to pay for picking off the small, green fruit, but they forget that the fruit 

 must be picked some time, and that it can be picked best in the early sum- 

 mer when help is easier to get than in the fall. Then when the harvest 

 actually comes the ripe fruit is more easily picked and graded and there 

 is less small and inferior fruit. 



PICK OFF INFERIOR FRUIT. 



In thinning a fruit tree the small and inferior fruit should be taken 

 off. There is no way in which the fruit can be thinned by racking the 

 branches, for then the small fruit is more apt to remain on, while the large 

 and better developed fruit will be knocked off. 



Two men can thin a tree better than one. The lower limbs should 

 come first, taking one limb and thinning it thoroughly before going on to 

 the next. When the upper limbs are reached step-ladders are used. No 

 definite rule can be given for thinning fruit; a person must consider the 

 amount of fruit on the undivided tree and the general condition of the 

 tree. 



If a person lives a long way from a market and expects to ship the 

 fruit in bulk, it is often a question whether it really pays to thin fruit, but 

 where a person is near market and ships, it certainly pays in dollars to 

 thin his fruit. — American Truck Farmer, St. Louis. 



