296 Report of the Horticultural Department of the 



INTRODUCTION. 



Investigations on the general subject of thinning fruit were 

 started at this Station in 1896 and continued for several years 

 thereafter. The work included experiments in commercial 

 orchards with the apple, plum, peach and apricot. A final ac- 

 count with apples is here given. The final report on the experi- 

 ments in thinning the stone fruits has not yet been prepared. 

 Preliminary reports have been published in the Station Annual 

 Report for 1896 and in addresses before various horticultural 

 societies by Professor C. P. Close and the writer.^ 



OUTLINE OF EXPERIMENTS. 



The experiments in thinning apples were carried on for four 

 seasons in one of the orchards of Mr. Thomas B. Wilson, Halls 

 Corners, N. Y. We desire here to express our hearty apprecia- 

 tion of Mr. Wilson's co-operation and interest in the work. 



The orchard used for these tests has sustained the reputation 

 of being one of the most productive orchards in one of the good 

 apple-growing sections of Western New York. The trees are 

 generally healthy and in good condition. They are pruned 

 moderately and judiciously and are sprayed regularly and quite 

 thoroughly with bordeaux mixture and some arsenical poison. 

 The orchard is pastured with sheep or hogs and is given barnyard 

 manure from time to time as it seems to be needed. A view of 

 a portion of the trees under experiment is given in Plate 

 XIX. 



in 1896 sixteen well-formed, vigorous apple trees in this 

 orchard were selected for experiment. These included eight 

 Baldwin and six Greening trees which had been planted about 



1 Beach, S. A. Thinning Apples. Proc. W. N, Y. Hort. Soc, Rochester, 

 1897:75. Beach, S. A. Thinning Fruit. Rept. Mich. Hort. Soc, 1898:156. 

 Close, C. P. Rept. Utah Farmers' Institutes. 1900:69. 



The results have also been presented in part at various other meetings the pro- 

 ceedings of which have not been published. 



