The Canadian Horticulturi^ 



Vol. XXXVI 



JULY, 1913 



No. 7 



Thinning the Apple Crop a Profitable Operation 



Justus 



THINNING the apple crop is the last 

 feature of improved orchard cul- 

 ture a grower will take up. The ob- 

 ject is to improve the quality of the 

 fruit. The first steps in orcharding are 

 proper cultivation, pruning and spray- 

 ing. In our work in these counties (Dur- 

 ham and Northumberland) we have 

 found it hard to persuade many farm- 

 ers to undertake these tasks. The ma- 

 jority of them are not ready for thin- 

 ning. 



Many think that it is a very expensive 

 operation. In our demonstration or- 

 chards we have thinned trees at a cost 

 of sixty cents a tree. These apples had 

 to be picked anyway, and it was much 

 cheaper to snip them off when small and 

 allow them to fall to the ground than to 

 pick and pack them in the fall. 



By thinning, the percentage of culls 

 is reduced very greatly. These are not 

 only of small value themselves but they 

 lower the value of the entire pack. Con- 

 sidering the increased value of number 

 ones resulting, P. C. Dempsey, an ex- 

 tensive apple grower of Trenton, North- 

 umberland County, argues that the culls 

 thus taken away are selling really at nine 

 dollars a barrel. 



The work is in its infancy in Ontario. 

 In some orchards in Durham and North- 

 umberland counties, experiments have 

 been conducted, and some also in Nor- 

 folk. W. J. Schuyler, fruit specialist of 

 Norfolk county, in the employ of the 

 Ontario fruit branch, states that a sys- 

 tem of thinning will bring uniform crops. 

 In the natural state trees bear apples 

 uniformly one year with another. But 

 when unfavorable weather conditions 

 produce a failure one year a very heavy 

 set of fruit is produced the next. The 

 tree cannot bring this abnormal crop to 

 maturity and at the same time develop a 

 strong growth of fruit spurs. When 

 the apples are thinned abnormal crops 

 do not exist, and fewer off years occur. 

 By thinning before the seeds are devel- 

 oped a great deal of food is saved for 

 the tree also. Of course some varieties 

 do not require thinning as do others. 

 The Duchess, Wealthy, Snow, Russet 

 and in some cases the Spy, are especial- 

 ly benefited in our counties. 



In 1912 experiments were conducted 

 in two of our demonstration orchards. 

 In one at Colborne, in Northumberland 

 county, a few Snow trees were selected. 

 The apples were thinned when about the 



Miller, Department of Agriculture, Port 



size of hickory nuts. They were taken 

 off with thinning shears and all the work 

 was done from ladders. The intention 

 was to thin all clusters to one specimen 

 and to leave no apples close enough to- 

 gether so as to touch each other or in 

 such a position that they would rub 

 against a limb or a twig when mature. 

 The quality of apples on thnined trees' 

 was much superior to that of those on 

 unthinned trees. But the thinning was 

 not severe enough. When the apples 

 matured it was found that full allowance 

 had not been made for their increase in 

 size. 



The result from two trees under iden- 

 tical conditions was : 



Thinned tree — Six barrels number 

 ones ; three-quarters barrel number twos 

 and one peck of culls. 



Unthinned tree — Three barrels num- 

 ber ones ; three barrels number twos, and 

 two and a half barrels of culls. 



In an orchard at Welcome, in Dur- 

 ham county, another experiment was 

 made, this time with Duchess apples. 

 The same methods were used as with 

 the Snows. The results were : 



Six thinned trees — Seventeen barrels 

 number ones ; three barrels number twos, 

 no culls. 



Six unthinned trees — Twelve barrels 

 number ones ; twelve barrels number 

 twos and one-half barrel culls. 



Hope 



In this case the thinning should have 

 been more thorough and more severe 

 also. The three barrels of number twos 

 equalled the number ones in size, but 

 lacked color, and there were no culls at 

 all. These trees were thinned at the 

 rate of sixty cents a tree, three hours 

 labor at twenty cents an hour being ex- 

 pended on each. It will be seen that the 

 total crop was larger in the case of the 

 unthinned trees. 



The value of thinning rests in the in- 

 creased percentage of number ones. If 

 the entire crop is sold to a buyer at a 

 flat rate for number ones and twos, there 

 is very little profit in undertaking this 

 work. But if the apples are sold through 

 associations and are pro-rated according 

 to class, as is done by the Norfolk Fruit 

 Growers' Association, the profit is at 

 once apparent. Consider the two Snow 

 trees already mentioned. The 1912 price 

 for number one Snows paid by the Nor- 

 folk Association was three dollars and 

 ten cents, and for the number twos two 

 dollars. The profit per tree would be 

 something as follows : 



TMnnod Tree: Six barrels number one's at 

 three dollars ten cents, eighteen dollars sixty 

 cents; three-quarters of a barrel number two's 

 at two dollars, one dollar fifty cents; cost of 

 thinning, sixty cents; total, nineteen dollars fifty 

 cents. 



Unthinned Tree : Three barrels number one's at 

 three dollars ten cents, nine dollars thirty cents; 

 three barrels number two's at two dollars, six 

 dollars; total, fifteen dollars thirty cents; profit, 

 excludiing culls, four dollars twenty cents. 



Orchard Demonttration in Orchard of F. W. McConnell, Colborne, Ont. 



This orchard ijave a net profit of two hundred and fifteen dollars a,n acre In 1911. 



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