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THINNING THE CEOP 01^ FEUITS IN THE OECHAED 



HOUSE. 



BY HENUT HOWLETT. 



|ATUEE provides means for tbinniug the crop ou wild 

 fruits in seasons of unusual plenty, and probably if the 

 natural processes of thinning were aided by artificial 

 thinning, many of our wild fruits would improve, irre- 

 spective of the more definite mode of improving by 

 hybridization. But it is quite certain, that to allow trees to bear 

 beyond a certain limit, tends to throw them back in history, and 

 cause them to revert back some degrees towards the natural types 

 from which they sprung. 'We do not mean to say that a Victoria 

 plum will become a sloe or a buliace by neglect ; but if the tree be 

 weakened by a succession of very heavy crops, it will at least become 

 comparatively unfruitful, and what fruits do appear will be small and 

 flavourless compared with those from a tree in full vigour. As a 

 general principle, then, the appearance of a large crop should be the 

 signal for thinning, and our advice to the possessors of fruit 

 crops, whether under glass or in the open air, is, Thin the fruit. 

 Eemove a few at once from every part of the tree, so as to leave 

 the residue pretty evenly dit^tributed. After the lapse of a few 

 days, thin again, and so on till there are no more left than the tree 

 can fairly bring to perfection, consistent with its age, and size, and 

 vigour. 



But the matter does not end here. Have you not observed that 

 the same variety of fruit varies in flavour considerably ? Tou taste 

 a Eoyal George peach in one garden, and it is delicious ; in another 

 garden you taste a fruit of the same variety, and it is execrable. 

 Tou solve the riddle of the diflerence, perhaps, by referring it to influ- 

 ences of soil, climate, or, as the gardener will perhaps suggest, " We 

 had a sharp east wind when the fruits were stoning." Now, generally 

 the flavour of fruits depends on early and judicious thinning. Tou can 

 only get so much out of a tree. If you have quantity, you must 

 lose quality ; and if high flavour is desired, we must give the same 

 rule as before to obtain it, and say again, Thin the fruit ; and begin 

 the thinning before the strength of the tree has been severely taxed 

 in the first swelling of the crop. 



Growers of forced fruits get such advice as this frequently in 

 our calendarial notices, but we fear that growers of fruit in orchard 

 houses and the open quarters do not take the advice to themselves 

 as they should, for in almost every garden of the country the trees 

 and bushes have on them larger crops of fruit than they can bring to 

 perfection ; and to leave the trees to fight it out in their own way 

 will result in flavourless production, and the weakening of the con- 

 stitution of every tree so taied beyond its strength. Short hints 

 are sometimes more efi'ectual than elaborate essays ; therefore we 

 close here with a repetition of the words. Thin the fruit before the 

 trees are wealcened. 



