3o8 Report of the Horticultural Department of the 



The unthinned tree gave about three times as many culls as the 

 thinned tree. The superior color and quality of the thinned fruit 

 were especially noticeable. The yield for 1896 is given in the 

 table below. 



Record for iSgy. — About 21 per ct. more of the crop of the 

 thinned Hubbardston graded No. i than was the case with the 

 unthinned Hubbardston, although the total yield of marketable 

 fruit where it was thinned was six bushels less than where it was 

 unthinned. The thinned was the better fruit both of No. i and 

 No. 2 apples and was also clearly superior in color and quality. 



In 1897 Greening was added to the experiment with the third 

 method of thinning. On the thinned Greening tree the yield of 

 marketable fruit was equal to that on the unthinned tree. The 

 fruit from the two trees showed no difference in color, but the 

 thinned fruit was distinctly superior in size. The yield for 1897 

 is given in the table below. 



Record for i8p8. — In July, 1898, the fruit was thinned accord- 

 ing to the plan adopted. When the fruit ripened it was evident 

 that the thinned Hubbardston tree was bearing better fruit and 

 had a smaller amount of windfalls than the unthinned tree. The 

 thinned fruit averaged large and well colored, while the unthinned 

 averaged medium size and only fair in color. The yield is shown 

 in the Summary. Neither of the Greening trees bore any fruit. 



Record for i8gp. — None of the trees under the experiment with 

 the third method of treatment bore enough in 1899 to afford 

 suitable opportunity for thinning the fruit. 



SUMMARY FOR THIRD METHOD. 



The yield for the trees under the third method of thinning is 

 given in the following table, except for 1899, when the crop was 

 so light that no thinning was done on the trees which were to 

 be thinned. The crop was likewise light in 1899 on the corre- 

 sponding trees which were not to be thinned. 



