206 STATE HOK,TTCULTURA.L SOCIETY. 



and lose the quality that gave it eminence, and in a very few genera- 

 tions, lose almost entirely the character given it by the experienced 

 and carefal hand of man. Our trees and bushes and vines, then, need 

 watchful care, and the skill that made the fruit what it is, fine in color, 

 in flavor and in size, if we would have them acceptable in the markets 

 and successfully sold at profit-paying prices the world over. 



This brings me to the subject-matter of my address : Thinning 

 for quality, color, size and quantity; for annual crops instead of bien- 

 nial. Such fruit as always and everywhere commands a market and 

 prices two, three or four times those obtained for fruit neglected and 

 unskillfully handled. 



In the names of the gentlemen whose letters I have secured, you 

 will recognize some of the most experienced in the State, men whose 

 judgment commands respect the world over. In reading them you 

 will discover that, though strongly impressed with the necessity of 

 thinning, and though that feeling prompted the symposium, I have 

 given facts rather than theory, and experience rather than mere supposi- 

 tion. The effort was suggested during the summer, when thousands of 

 trees were being ruined by attempting to carry too much fruit. 



Geo. Longman. 



testimony of j. c. evans. 



My dear Mr. Longman — I have your letter of recent date asking 

 some questions relative to the thinning of fruit. I assure you there 

 is no part of the work of an orchardist or small fruit-grower that is of 

 greater importance, and I am truly glaa the question is to come up at 

 so important a meeting. I trust it will start the ball rolling, and that 

 ere long all growers of anything will come to realize the importance of 

 thinning. If a crop of turnips, corn, oats, or any of our annual crops 

 are planted too thick the damage is only to the present crop ; but if a 

 tree or shrub (either fruit or flower) be allowed to bear too full, the 

 damage injures the value of the next and perhaps two or three future 

 <;rops. 



If a peach tree, for instance, is quite full, it may be thinned to 

 one-half any time before the seed hardens and still be able to produce 

 as many pounds of fruit as it would if not thinned, and of course of 

 better quality. It is the maturing of the seed that exhausts the vital- 

 ity of the tree. 



Some varieties of fruit are recognized as alternate bearers, and 

 the reason is obvious. They are so busy maturing their enormous 

 crop this year that they have no time to prepare fruit-buds for the 

 next ; besides their vitality is so exhausted that they require a year or 



