J28 CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



It is seldom desirable to divide doubles in peaches ; pull both off 

 or leave both on, as they may be needed or not to make the load of 

 the tree. Clusters of apples or pears should often be reduced to 

 singles, except where size is apt to be too great. 



All kinds of fruit are clearly subject to increase of size by thin- 

 ning, but it is with only the larger fruits that the practice prevails at 

 present. The dividing line seems to lie upon the prune. With this 

 fruit thinning is only done by pruning the tree for the reduction of 

 the number of bearing branches, while with some shipping plums 

 hand thinning is practised. Growers are still striving for a prune 

 naturally of larger size rather than to have recourse to thinning. 



The practice of thinning partially at first, trusting to further 

 removal of fruit later if too much of it survives the natural drop and 

 various accidents, is followed by some growers, but the rule is to 

 finish at one operation. 



The size of oranges on over-burdened trees can be increased by 

 thinning, just as other fruits are enlarged, but it is not systematically 

 undertaken, because it is not so necessary and because it is perhaps 

 easier to get oranges too large and to be discounted for over-large 

 and coarse fruit. Removing part of the fruit from young trees is 

 often done for the good of the tree, not for the good of the fruit. 



