New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 361 



larger amount of high grade fruit, in the higher color, the dis- 

 tinctly superior appearance and quality and in the proportion- 

 ately small amount of drops and culls. 



Record for iSgy. — The same trees were kept under experiment 

 with the second method in 1897 as in 1896. An examination 

 was made of the trees in the blooming season of 1897. Contrary 

 to expectations, the Baldwins had very little bloom on the trees 

 which were thinned in 1896, nor did they on the unthinned trees. 

 Most of the Greening trees in the orchard bloomed profusely, 

 but those under experiment had 'not nearly so much bloom as 

 the other Greenings. In 1896 the Greening trees which were 

 not under experiment as a rule had a comparatively light crop, 

 while those included under experiment bore well, and for that 

 reason were chosen for the experiment. Of the Greening trees 

 under experiment those which had not been thinned the previous 

 year actually showed somewhat more bloom in 1897 than did the 

 corresponding trees which had been thinned. In this case thin- 

 ning the fruit in 1896 caused no apparent increase in fruitfulness 

 in 1897. ' 



The growth of fruit was rather slow in the earlier part of 1897 

 as compared with ordinary seasons, so that the apples were not 

 thinned till July. The object was to postpone the thinning till 

 after the June drop of fruit was over. Notes taken July ist 

 showed that Baldwin trees i and 3 had scarcely any fruit Tree 

 2 had more, but not enough to make a fair crop. But little thin- 

 nmg was done on these because only occasionally was the fruit 

 set thickly enough to give a chance for thinning. The largest 

 fruits about this time had a diameter of about one inch. The 

 check Baldwin trees 4, 5 and 6 had scarcely any fruit. The 

 Greening trees 7, 8 and 9 had the fruit thinned July ist, accord- 

 ing to the original plan. At that time they showed hardly fruit 

 enough for a fair crop, while the corresponding check trees 

 10, II and 12 gave promise of a fair to good crop. 



With Baldwin the average yield per tree was less than one-half 

 bushel; consequently there were no significant differences in 

 yield between the thinned and the, unthinned. Tree 2 gave the 

 largest yield of marketable fruit among the thinned Baldwins, but 

 that was only one-half bushel. Among the unthinned Baldwins 



