ORCHARDS. I6b 



to the nutriment, and consequently greatly enlarge the size 

 and add to the quality and flavor of fruit by that means, also, 

 as well as by the additional water." 



In an art'cle entitled "The Golden Age of Fruit Culture," 

 the RmYil Annual Yem?ivks: "V^e may as well add in tliis 

 connection, that much may be done by way of restoring the 

 former smoothness of specimens, if the |Arc»/,>cr tJdnning out at 

 the 7'ight tinie^ is adopted. Yonder, for instance, is an apple 

 orchard at mid-Summer — most of the trees have twice as 

 many specimens growing upon them as they can develop at 

 full size and maturity with full flavor. It will be found, also, 

 that one-half or two-thirds of them are wormy or knotty. All 

 that the owner has to do, therefore, is to thin out all that are 

 bad or defective. He will do this many times more rapidly 

 than gathering the fruit, because he has to take no pains with 

 them. His crop Avill then be left in an excellent and fair 

 condition, and be far more saleable than if disfigured by an 

 intermixture of scrubbs. These remarks will also apply to 

 pears and peaches, with the addition that they are more likely 

 to be stung and rendered knotty by the curculio than the 

 apple." 



The taking ofi' all that are wormy or knotty might not be 

 sufftcient, as those trees that are much crowded would not be 

 sufficiently relieved, and, the part remaining might be still too 

 numerous to allow fine size and flavor; consequently, the good 

 judgment of the owner, or orchardist, would, in such cases, 

 require him to still farther reduce the crop, even to one-half. 



It is not to be denied, notwithstanding what has been said 

 about over-bearing, and its remedy, "picking off" — that many 

 orchards bear remunerative crops without any such assistance, 

 and, are naturally relieved of their superabundance of fruit, 

 by the most vigorous specimens crowding off and starving the 

 weakly ones. This, in some degree, is always the case — but 

 still enough may remain to exhaust the energies of the tree 

 and cause the fruit to be unfit for marketable purposes. The 

 trees may be broken and fatally injured, however, by the 

 leverage and weight of fruit, and the fruit rendered very in- 

 ferior in many cases, yet the great abundance of the crop — 



