THINHIHG THE FRUIT. 77 



do not so soon disappear. The petals retain their color 

 and stand out with prominence so long after the others 

 have withered away as to suggest a second blossoming. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

 THINNING THE FRUIT. 



THE story is told of a man who said it took him thirty 

 years to get moral courage to prune his fruit trees. A 

 large proportion of cultivators never attain the courage 

 of their convictions in this matter. By far the most ex- 

 peditious method of thinning fruit is to prune judi- 

 ciously. In some varieties, after having pruned quite 

 severely, there is too much fruit set to be carried to 

 maturity, and a large thinning out is a necessity to pre- 

 vent the trees from overbearing. To many, it seems an 

 unjustifiable waste to pull off the finely-set specimens ; 

 and with a serious doubt as to the wisdom of the oper- 

 ation, they allow their trees to overbear. As an inevi- 

 table result, the fruit is small and inferior, the trees 

 are overtaxed in the effort to mature more than they 

 are able to perfect, and, as a consequence, they must 

 have an off year to rest and recuperate. "We hardly 

 realize that, a tree is overbearing till the fruit has at- 

 tained considerable size, and then we hate to pull off 

 enough to relieve the strain. I sometimes take off half 

 or two-thirds, and then there is a plenty left to be of the 

 first quality. The number of bushels will be about the 

 same, and the quality of the fruit greatly improved. In 

 years of abundance the large fruit will sell when the 

 small finds no market at any price. This difference in 

 the market value of fine fruit and that produced by 

 overbearing trees shows the great importance of properly 

 thinning. 



