THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



177 



that on some of the trees the fruit was thinned so that the apples on a 

 branch were spaced a distance of from 8 to 10 inches. The author 

 recommends this distance for the Winesap. 



Tree 

 No. 



1 .- 



3 _... 



4 -_- 



5 _— 



6 .... 



7 .... 



8 .... 

 Check 



1 .. 

 Check 



Thinning Winesap — Season 1910. 



Number apples 

 thinned off 



Windfalls before and at picking 

 time 



Date -Number Date 



Before 



At ; Number 

 picking boxes 



6—16 3167 10—7 

 6—16 25o0 10—7 



6—17 

 6-17 

 6—17 

 6—20 

 7—22 

 7—22 



2150 

 1000 



10—7 

 10—8 



1980 10—8 



3250 

 2033 



10—8 

 10—8 



3060 10—8 

 10—10 



2 .. 10—10 



.5 

 .3 

 .5 

 .5 

 .25 

 .5 



1.25 



Total number 



apples picked 



per tree 



Boxes Apples 



Total 



numljer 



borne 



per 



tree. 



Thinning 

 distance 

 in inches 



.5 20.5 3391 6669 



21.5 



18 



10 



14 



14 



12 



14 



3526 

 3134 

 1908 

 2155 

 2036 

 1711 

 2371 



6199 

 5389 

 2968 

 4233 

 5381 

 3799 

 5527 



1.25 26 



16 



6293 6672 

 3249 3632 



About 10 ex- 

 cept in top. 

 6 to 8 



8 

 10 to 12 

 About 8 



10 



8 to 10 



6 to 8 



Not 



thinned 



Not 

 thinned 



Thinning by Priming. 



The cutting out of wood containing fruit buds during the dormant 

 season may be done as the first step in thinning the crop. To do this 

 properly requires a knowlodo'e of the bearing habits of the diiferent 

 kinds of trees. If the fruit buds are borne on the last year's growth 

 from auxiliary buds then a shortening of this growth will give the 

 desired results ; if on fruit spurs from terminal buds as is usually the 

 case with the apple, tlien the removal of some of the spurs may be 

 necessary. Pruning when done with the idea of thinning the fruit 

 must be done intelligently and not by men whose only knowledge of the 

 business consists in their aliility to cut off a branch because they think 

 it interferes with the proper shape of the tree. Because of no knowl- 

 edge of the liearing habits of an apple tree we sometimes see them from 

 which all the fruit spui-s have been cut as high above the ground as a 

 man can reach, or peach trees from which all tlie new growth, the 

 bearing wood, is removed. These are exaggerated cases, but serve to 

 illustrate the fact that too little attention is paid to some of these 

 fundamental principles which bear upon the subject of thinning. 



Pruning can not be made to take the place of thinning altogether. 

 Fruit will cluster just the same on pruned trees as those unpruned and 

 there is no way of breaking up these clusters and giving each fruit 

 room for development except by picking off part of it by hand. 



Thinning by Removing the Fruit After it Sets. 



The earlier that the fruit is removed the better chance will the 

 remainder have to develop. While no time that will not be subject to 

 wide variation with seasons and different fruits can be set, in general 

 thinning should be done just as soon as possible after the fruit sets and 

 danger of the early or so-called June drop, is over. The work may be 

 done quite handily with a pair of thinning shears. These may be pur- 

 chased at small cost and will greatly aid in the work. 



