GENERAL MANAGEMENT 



73 



THINNING THE FRUIT 



This practice of thinning out the fruit crop by 

 hand is everywhere recommended, but seldom 

 adopted. It has been shown, however, by repeated 

 experiment and by careful test under commercial 

 conditions that this is one of the most profitable 

 practices that can be undertaken by the ordinary 

 fruit grower. Thinning out the fruit increases the 

 vitality of the tree by lessening the production of 

 seed, tends to cause the tree to bear crops more 



THE USEFUL SPIKE-TOOTH HARROW 



regularly, lessens the loss caused by rot and other 

 fungous diseases by eliminating the danger of infec- 

 tion by contact, brings larger and better-colored 

 fruit which can ripen up more uniformly, produces 

 a more salable and higher-priced fruit and pre- 

 vents the breaking of overloaded branches. In 

 nearly every case where a fair test has been made it 

 has been shown that the tree carefully thinned will 

 produce a larger quantity of first-grade fruit than a 

 tree from which no fruit has been taken. 



It has been shown, moreover, that it is almost 

 impossible to overdo this work of thinning; that is, 

 that no ordinary man would remove too much fruit 



