1890.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 17 



This operation is conducted as follows, preferably by 

 boys or young men : 1 . Wherever two or more specimens 

 of the apple or pear set in a cluster, all should be picked oif 

 except the best one ; 2. All those deformed in any way 

 that Avould take them out of the No. 1 class at maturity, 

 should be removed ; 3. All that show the presence of worms 

 should not only be taken from the tree, but should be 

 treated so as to destroy the worms, either by feeding to 

 animals, or by cooking or burying; lastly, all that are 

 decidedly smaller than the average specimens left should be 

 removed. 



After all this is completed, it becomes a question of judg- 

 ment whether the fruits remaining shall be further thinned. 

 Experience only can teach the best point at which to stop 

 in each individual tree ; but, even with the experience of 

 years, we shall be likely to finish prematurely. At the time 

 at which the work is done the fruits are small, and we* do 

 not and can not appreciate how differently the tree will look 

 when the fruit has reached its full size ; and the tendency is 

 ahvays to an underestimate. Perhaps- a good rule is to 

 allow no fruit within six inches of another in any direction. 

 Even at this distance, if a tree was evenly filled throughout, 

 the yield would be enormous. 



It is obvious that careful spinying and faithful thinning 

 combined must result in a greatly superior product, that will 

 aftbrd a much larger margin for profit if the increased labor 

 and expense do not consume it all. It is easy to arrive 

 at the exact cost of each of these operations, but more 

 difficult to get at the difference in crop value resulting there- 

 from. From an experience of more than twenty years in 

 thinning pears, and half as many in apples, I am fully 

 persuaded that labor expended in this way is worth always 

 more than twice what it costs, and in some cases more than 

 five times. A few of the fruits would drop before picking 

 time, but the great majority of the fruit would have to be 

 picked by hand finally, and two small ones can be removed 

 quicker than one full grown. In fact, I am not sure that it 

 costs an additional cent to take them off early, but I am 

 confident that it adds to the value of the rem^iining product 

 from twenty-five to one hundred per cent. It pays the 



