84 THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Castner here, and perhaps we can get something out of him 

 on that point. 



I would like to ask one more question on that thinning 

 proposition. What effect do you notice on the bearing of the 

 next crop? Can you get your Baldwins to bear annually by 

 thinning ? 



Mr. Tenny : We have, I know, in our locality quite a 

 lot of Baldwins, several acres which, under our present bear- 

 ing conditions, bear just about the same number of barrels 

 per year, but the crop does not come from the same fruit 

 sprouts. Perhaps a half of the tree, or the top of the tree, 

 or certain limbs on the tree will bear one year and the re- 

 mainder of the tree will bear the next year. I have not seen 

 that thinning has a tendency to make more fruit sprouts. 



Mr. Fenn: What is the expense of doing that? 



Mr. Tenny : Why, a man can thin, on our 1)ig trees 

 that will bear from eight to ten to fifteen barrels of fruit. 

 about four trees a day. That would make it run up to some- 

 where in the neighborhood of fifty cents a tree. That is 

 about five cents a barrel, assuming that there are ten barrels. 



Mr. Platt: What proportion of your men will thin 

 well enough when you send them in there? (Laughter.) 



Mr. Tenny: You mean of the laborers? 



Mr. Platt: Yes. 



Mr. Tenny : Well, I don't know as they would thin 

 any more than that if they were closely watched. They will 

 not do anything very good anyway unless you are there to 

 look after it. If you lay down certains laws for them to fol- 

 low, it is up to them to do it. If you wish them to thin to 

 one apple to a cluster it is up to them to do it. That is a 

 very simple rule that you can lay down. 



A Member: In thinning do you break the apples off or 

 cut them off? 



Mr. Tenny : We break them with a sharp turn of 

 the hand or twist like that. 



Vice-President Drew : Isn't there danger of breaking 

 the fruit buds doing it by hand? 



