THERMOPSIS 



aa. Pod straight or only slightly curved at the apex. 

 B. Plant 3-5 ft. high. 

 Caroliniana, M. A. Curtis. Stern stout, smooth, sim- 

 ple: lvs. long-petioled; lfts. obovate -oblong, silky be- 

 neath; stipules large, clasping; raceme 6-12 in. long, 

 erect, rigid, many-fid. : pod 2 in. long, erect, villous and 

 hoary. June, July. Mts. of N. C. 



bb. Plant 1-3 ft. high. 

 0. .Stipules longer than tin petiole. 

 montana, Nutt. Plant 1% ft. high, somewhat silky- 

 pubescent: lfts. oblong-obovate to oblong, 1-3 in. long: 

 Hs. in long spikes : pod straight, erect, pubescent. 

 May, June. Western states. B.M. 3011. B.R. 15:1272 

 (both erroneously as T. fabacea). Sometimes called 

 "Buffalo pen " iu the west. 



CC. Stipules shorter than the petiole. 

 D. Racemes axillary. 

 fabacea, DC. Resembles T. montana and has possibly 

 been confounded with it in the trade. It differs in hav- 

 ing more spreading pods and larger and more com- 

 pressed seeds. May, June. Siberia. 



dd. Racemes terminal. 

 nmllis, M. A. Curtis. Stem erect, branched, 2-3 ft. 

 high, pubescent: lfts. obovate-oblong, 1-2 in. long: ra- 

 cemes 6-10 in. long: pod slightly curved at the end, 

 2-4 in. long. May-July. Va. and North Carolina. 



T. Cashmeridna, Hort. Saul, does not appear to be known to 

 botanists. j. b. Keller and P. W. Barclay. 



THESPESIA (Greek, divine; application doubtful). 

 Malracece. A genus of a few species of tall trees or 

 shrubs native of tropical Africa, Asia and the islands of 

 the Pacific. They have the aspect of Hibiscus and may 

 be distinguished by the confluent stigmas, more woody 

 capsule and the obovoid compressed seeds. 



populnea. Soland. A small tree with the younger por 

 tions covered with peltate scales: lvs. long-petioled 

 ovate, cordate, acuminate, 3 in. across: fls. axillary 

 2-3 in. across, yellow. Trop. Asia, Africa and the 

 islands of the Pacific — Cult, in S. Calif., where, accord 

 ing to Franceschi, it succeeds only in warm and moist 

 locations. He also notes the fls. as varying from yellow 

 to purple. p. V7. Barclay. 



THEVETIA (Andre Thevet, 1502-1590, a French 

 monk who traveled in Brazil and Guiana and wrote a 

 book on French Guiana in which the plant is mentioned). 

 Apocyniicew. A tropical American genus of about 7 

 species of trees or shrubs with alternate, 1-uerved or 

 lightly penniveined leaves and rather large yellow 

 flowers in terminal few-flowered cymes. 



Thevetia nerei folia, the Yellow Oleander of Florida 

 gardens, is a very ornamental small evergreen shrub, 

 growing luxuriantly in rich, sandy soil, not too moist 

 and not too dry, ultimately attaining a height of 6 to 8 

 feet and almost as much in diameter. The foliage is 

 abundant, light glossy green and reminds one of the 

 oleander, but the lvs. are narrower. The pale yellow 

 flowers are abundantly produced. The fruit, which is of 

 the size and somewhat of the form of a hickory nut, is 

 regarded as poisonous by the negroes. The Thevetia 

 can stand a few degrees of frost, but it was killed out- 

 right on February 7, 1895, when the thermometer went 

 down to 18° F. If banked with dry sand in fall it does 

 not suffer much, though the top may be killed. 

 A. Lvs. S-10 in. long, about 2 in. wide 



nitida, DC. A tender shrub: lvs. oblong-lanceolate, 

 acuminate, margins revolute: fls. rather large; corolla 

 white, with a yellow throat. West Indies ; cult, in 

 southern Calif. 



aa. Lvs. 3-6 in. long, less than % in. wide. 



nereifolia, Juss. Known locally in Florida as "Trumpet 

 Flower" and incorrectly as "Yellow Oleander." A ten- 

 der shrub: lvs. linear, shining, margins revolute: 

 fls. about 3 in. long, yellow, fragrant. West Indies, 

 Mexico. B.M. 2309 (as Cerbera Thevetia). -Cult, in 

 S. Fla. and o. California. 



F. W. Barclay and II. Nehki.im;. 



THINNING FRUIT 1795 



THIMBLEBERRY. Rubus occidentalis and odoratus. 



THINNING FRUIT. All fruit grows larger and bet- 

 ter, and often becomes more highly colored, other things 

 being equal, when it has an abundance of readily avail- 

 able food. The supply of crude food materials is 

 increased by allowing room enough to each plant and 

 by enriching the soil and keeping it sufficiently moist. 

 The plant may set so many fruits, however, that it can- 

 not possibly grow all of them to large size eveu though 

 an abundant supply of crude food material is readily 

 available. The leaves build up the crude materials 

 taken from the soil and air into organic compounds 

 which the plant must have to sustain its life and sup- 

 port its growth. Fruit-growers often fail to recognize 

 that the fruit depends upon the leaves most directly 

 connected with it for elaborated food, which alone can 

 nourish it. It is nevertheless true; and for this reason, 

 even when there is no crop on the rest of the tree, an 

 overloaded branch needs to have its fruit thinned to 

 secure the highest possible number of fine large fruits. 

 By reducing the number of fruits the proportion cf 

 elaborated food for those which remain is increased. 

 Sometimes checking the too vigorous growth of the 

 vegetative parts is also resorted to for the same pur- 

 pose. The latter practice is properly con- 

 sidered under the subject of Pinning; 

 the former may be treated under the 

 topic of Thinning Fruit. 



In its broad significance Thinning Fruit 

 includes not only picking off some of the 

 immature fruit, but also any pruning of 

 bearing wood to reduce the number of 

 fruits which a plant is allowed to produce. 

 Such pruning is usu- 

 ally done when the 

 plant is in a dor- 

 mant condition. It 

 may be performed on 

 grapes in autumn as 

 soon as the leaves 

 fall. It is then easy 

 to cover the vines if 

 winter protection is 

 needed. The more 

 hardy orchard fruits 

 may bo attended to 

 at any time when the 

 leaves are off ; the 

 more tender kinds 

 should be left till the 

 severities of winter 

 have passed, so that 

 the amount of bear- 

 ing wood which is 

 taken off may be 

 varied in proportion 

 to the loss of fruit- 

 buds by winter in- 

 jury. The work on 

 peaches and apricots 

 is thus sometimes 

 deferred till the trees 

 bloom, or even later. 

 The sooner a fruit 

 can be relieved from 

 struggling with other fruits for its food the better its 

 chances are for reaching extra large size. It is, there- 

 fore, best to reduce the amount of bearing wood before 

 the blossoms open, as much as can safely be done. 



Perhaps a method of thinning orchard fruits by treat- 

 ing the open blossoms with some spray mixture may 

 eventually be perfected. This would give the fruit the 

 advantage of an increased food supply from the time 

 the blossoms opened. It is known that such treatment 

 may prevent the setting of fruit. It remains to demon- 

 strate whether by a judicious use of this method the 

 setting of fruit too abundantly may be prevented. If 

 this can be done successfully, much labor in thinning 

 by picking off immature fruit might be thus avoided. 



To avoid the extra labor which would be required by 

 thinning immediately after the fruit sets, it is custom- 

 ary to defer the work till the weaker fruits drop. 



2497. Thinning fruit. 



(Drawn from photographs and 

 reduced to % natural size.) The 

 large separate fruits indicate the 

 relative gain in size in thinning 

 plums. The right-hand twig shows 

 relative stage of development at 

 which peaches should be thinned; 

 the twig at the left indicates rela- 

 tive distance between thinned 

 peaches. 



