THINNING TO INCREASE SIZE. 



iy^ p^HE necessity of thinning the 

 fruit is a work we shall have to 

 recognize in the future. The 

 benefits have been brought to 

 my notice in many places this year. In 

 September I was in Ontario in one of 

 the best plum-growing sections, and saw 

 an orchard of four hundred trees, each 

 tree of which yielded ten baskets of 

 Lombard plums, or four thousand bas- 

 kets in all, which sold at twenty-five 

 cents, making a gross return of $i,ooo 

 for these 400 trees. I saw another 

 orchard, not five miles away, that carried 

 probably as large a number of baskets, 

 but I am sure they would not realize 

 more than fifty per cent of the gross re- 

 turn of the first. The high prices 

 scored by the first lot may be attributed 

 to the fact that they were thinned, and 

 the second was not. The Lombard is 

 one of those trees which will practically 



kill itself by overbearing if it is not 

 thinned. The fruit will, under these 

 conditions, become small, and very 

 poorly colored, so that the smaller price 

 for the larger number of baskets will not 

 equal in gross return that secured from 

 the smaller quantity of better quality 

 obtained by thinning. At the farm I 

 have tried this experiment on some vari- 

 eties of American plums. These are 

 very prolific sorts ; if allowed to bear to 

 their full extent, will in a few years des- 

 troy themselves. In the case of the 

 Weaver plum, two trees which were not 

 thinned for three years died at the end 

 of that period, and two other trees 

 which were thinned each year, are in 

 good health and give fair returns each 

 year. It is, therefore, not only possible 

 by thinning to increase the quality of the 

 fruit but to keep your trees in health. — 

 Report Quebec Pomological Society. 



FRUIT NOTES. 



■p^OAD dust thrown over the trees in 

 j»( which the slimy scales appear, 

 ,I\> will destroy them. They breathe 

 through pores in their bodies and 

 the dust closes these up and suffocates 

 them. 



Clean cultivation is the great safe- 

 guard against fungus diseases and insect 

 pests. These enemies are cowardly, 

 they always attack the weak and un- 

 protected plants first. Look for them 

 closely and apply remedies for them at 

 once. 



If you desire to hasten the maturity 

 of any garden crop, use wood ashes lib- 

 erally. On most farms enough ashes 

 can be saved during the year to give the 

 entire garden a good coat. We do not 



place as high a value upon ashes as we 

 should. 



Such luxuries as small fruits of all 

 kinds out to be indulged in liberally by 

 every farmer's family, but such is not the 

 case in too many instances. It isn't too 

 late to make a start in this direction this 

 spring, if you have neglected it in the 

 past. 



For the currant worm no remedy is 

 safer or more easily applied than white 

 hellebore. Dissolve an ounce of the 

 powder in two gallons of water and ap- 

 ply with a fine sprinkler or brush broom. 

 A sp'ayer is the best thing made for this 

 purpose. The worm first appears on 

 the lower branches about the time the 

 fruit is formed. — Main Farmer. 



468 



