THINNIXG FRUIT. 



just before the plants are put out the fol- 

 lowing spring. When thus used, even a 

 larger quantity than above stated can be 

 profitably applied if thoroughly mixed 

 with soil before planting, and if the fall 

 and spring top-dressings are carefully 

 applied, so as not to let too much fertil- 

 izer fall directly on the plants, especially 



if they are then growing and tender. 

 No possible harm can result if they are 

 in a dormant state. For vineyards and 

 orchards I should apply as top dressing 

 over whole surface, half the fertilizer in 

 late fall and half in early spring. 



O. W. BLACKX.4LL. 



Kittrell, N.C. 



THINNING FRUIT. 



L^ pvl H I] time has about gone by 

 when the Canadian fruit grower 

 can afford to despise the scien- 

 tific side of his business, and 

 follow haphazard methods. At one time 

 peaches of all sorts sold at a high price, 

 even without grading, and there seemed 

 little need of spending time and labor 

 in fertilizing the ground or thinning the 

 fruit in order to make sure of fine large 

 samples ; but now the conditions are 

 reversed, and small, mean samples of 

 peaches, pears or apples are almost un- 

 salable. Now the haphazard grower, the 

 lazy cultivator, the careless packer, will 

 fail, he will be discouraged, and con- 

 clude that fruit growing does not pay, 

 while the grower that spares no effort to 

 produce fine samples, and puts them 

 before the public in an attractive style, 

 will always meet with success. 



The thinning of fruit is a practice 

 little observed in Canada, but one that 

 should be adopted without delay. It 

 requires some courage at first to pull off 

 and throw away one-half of the weight 

 of plums or peaches on a tree, but it 

 will pay, and pay well. Indeed it won't 

 pay to neglect it for the half quantity 

 will bring double, if not four times the 

 price, because of increased size. 



Last year Prof. Beach, of Geneva, N.V., 

 made three experiments at the station in 

 thinning apples. The first was to take 

 out the inferior fruit ; second, to take 



out enough to leave the apples four 

 inches apart ; and third, to take out 

 enough to leave the apples six inches 

 apart. After the first experiment he 

 found that the fruit had a better color, 

 and one-tenth of it went into first-class 

 fruit. After the second experiment 22 

 per cent, of the crop was first-class fruit, 

 and after the third experiment nearly all 

 of the apples were of the first grade. 



At the Mass. Expl. Station, experi- 

 ments have also been made with very 

 distinct results, and we quote from Bul- 

 letin 44 : — 



The past season has emphasized the 

 necessity of reducing the number of 

 specimens of fruit on heavily loaded 

 trees in order to save the strength of the 

 tree and improve the size and quality of 

 the fruit. With the apple crop this 

 necessity is more marked than with any 

 other fruit. Nearly all of our fruil trees 

 possess the characteristic of producing 

 one year so large a crop that they can- 

 not mature a crop the next season, re- 

 quiring sometimes several years to re- 

 cover from the exhaustion. 



On the station grounds it has been 

 the practice for several years to thin all 

 the kinds of fruit more or less, and we 

 present in this bulletin a few illustrations 

 of the beneficial and profitable results. 



No. I. Two full-sized Gravensteiiis 

 of uniform vigor and productiveness 

 were selected. One was thinned July 

 34 



