66 ORCHARD MANAGEMENT. 



any great length of time without other food ele- 

 ments would have less effect. 



I am of opinion that the habit of ' 'off years' ' or 

 bearing only alternate years can in a great measure 

 be broken up by a careful system of feeding or fer- 

 tilizing. 



THINNING OUT SURPLUS FRUIT. 



Do not allow the trees to overbear. It is extremely 

 injudicious. After the fruit is large enough to sat- 

 isfy you what is firmly established, or when the size 

 of a hickory nut, look at the burden and try to 

 imagine that each is a full sized specimen. If the 

 Iruit would not in this size be more than an ordin- 

 ary crop all right, but if it would be a heavy crop 

 such as would require the propping up of the tree 

 pick off a part of them. Do not be afraid that you 

 are wasting your fruit; in very many cases if half 

 the fruit, even, is picked, that which remains will 

 measure as many bushels, but of much better and 

 handsomer fruit. 



In this way the tree has been relieved of nearly 

 half its burden; for the great strain upon the vital- 

 ity of the tree is not in maturing the pulp of the 

 fruit, but in maturing the seeds. 



It is a matter of record that the greatest injury 

 has generally been done to apple trees the winter 

 following the production of their heaviest crops. 



It is obvious that the better condition a tree is in, 

 in the fall, the more vitality it has stored up, the 

 better it will resist the rough usage of the winter. 



