126 



CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



all uses, not excluding drying, is unquestionable ; the total weight 

 secured may be variable as between thinned and unthinned trees, 

 but it can be accepted as an indisputable fact that any increase of 

 weight there may be upon an unthinned tree will not be nearly an 

 equivalent for the loss in value. It is the conclusion of our largest 

 and most successful growers that large as is the expenditure re- 

 quired for careful and systematic thinning of fruit, it is the most 

 directly profitable outlay which they have to make for orchard 

 maintenance. 



Objects in View in Fruit Thinning. But thinning fruit has 

 objects beyond the value of the visible crop which it makes profit- 

 able. No overburdened tree can discharge the two-fold summer 

 duty of every cultivated fruit-bearing tree, which is to perfect this 

 season's fruit and lay a good strong foundation for next year's 

 bearing. If the tree, after fruit gathering, has not the strong, vig- 

 orous foliage to complete the formation of fruit buds for the fol- 

 lowing year, there will either be a lack of bloom or a show of bloom 

 unfit to set, and the tree will work for itself next year, and not for 

 you, because this year you would not work for it. 



When to Thin Fruit. Thinning of fruit should begin with the 

 winter pruning of bearing trees, as has been already urged in con- 

 nection with regulating the amount of bearing wood allotted to each 

 tree. After this is carefully done, there is the thinning of bloom, 

 which is urged on the ground of least possible loss of energy by the 

 tree in the partial development of fruit to be subsequently removed. 

 Hand-thinning of individual blooms is impracticable on a commer- 

 cial scale, but the removal of spurs or twigs, or shortening of them 

 with shears, is feasible enough. The objection must lie in the 'fact 

 that profusion of bloom does not necessarily indicate an excessive 

 set of fruit, and any severe reduction of bloom is, therefore, ven- 

 turesome unless one is fully assured by local experience of the habit 

 of the variety under treatment. Reduction of the amount of fruit 

 itself is, therefore, the only safe proceeding, and this should not, as 

 a rule, be taken until the first drop, though lack of pollination, has 

 taken place. Even at greater theoretical loss of energy to the tree, 

 it is better to err on the side of thinning a little too late than too 

 early in order to secure the fullest assurance possible of the perma- 

 nent burden which the tree assumes. Where spring frosts are likely 

 to occur they afford additional reason for delay. If surety of the 

 local conditions comes before the pits harden in the young fruit it 

 is fortunate for the tree, but even after that it is still a greater 

 saving to the tree and assurance of profit to the grower to reduce 

 the fruit to a proper amount than to permit over-bearing. 



The Practice of Thinning. If the tree has not been sufficiently 

 relieved of an excess of bearing wood during the winter pruning and 

 has made a very heavy set of fruit, thinning with the shears by cut- 

 ting out whole spurs or short bearing shoots, or even shortening in 

 longer limbs, cutting always to a lateral when possible, is of no 

 appreciable injury to the tree. After all the shear-work possible is 



