THINNING THE CROPS. 69 



stoning of a crop of fruit, fifty per cent, of which 

 the cultivator intends picking off the trees when 

 the process of stoning is completed, unmindful of 

 the fact that his misapplied caution in this direction 

 tends directly to the wasting of the tree's forces, 

 instead of directing them into the proper channels 

 i.e., the swelling of the crop and the due develop- 

 ment of the tree, wood and foliage. In short, 

 there is no fear of strong, free-growing, healthy 

 peach trees dropping their fruit in the process of 

 stoning when cropped as recommended above, and 

 the cultural details are properly attended to in the 

 Way of keeping the soil about the roots uniformly 

 moist and the foliage clean. In the case of trees 

 the reverse of those just described, there is all the 

 more reason and necessity for reducing the number 

 of fruit to twelve inches from fruit to fruit every 

 way before the stoning stage is reached. And 

 avoid over-cropping the trees as the greatest evil 

 in fruit culture, always bearing in mind that a 

 dozen well-grown peaches are preferable in every 

 way to three times that number of fruits of like 

 weight in the aggregate. Weakly growing trees 

 should be cropped very lightly, so as to enable 

 them to swell decent-sized fruits and at the same 

 time make stronger wood for yielding fruit the 

 following year. 



In thinning the nectarine crops, it must be borne 



