220 THE PRACTICAL GARDEN -BOOK 



of lawn. If the Terrace is at the outer side next the street, 

 a perpendicular, mason-work, retaining wall may be con- 

 structed. If it is on the inner side of the lawn, it may be 

 placed close to the building and be made to appear as a 

 part of the architecture : it may be made the base of the 

 building. If this is done, there should be a balustrade 

 around the edge of the Terrace to give it architectural feel- 

 ing. The descent from the Terrace to the lawn may be 

 made by means of steps, so as to add to the architectural 

 aspect of the place. Terraces are most in place about build- 

 ings which have many strong horizontal lines ; they do not 

 lend themselves so well to buildings in the Gothic style. 

 The general tendency is to make too many Terraces. The 

 cases are relatively few in which they may not be dispensed 

 with. 



Thinning of fruit has four general uses : to 

 cause the remaining fruit to grow larger ; to increase the 

 chances of annual crops ; to save the vitality of the tree ; 

 to enable one to combat insects and diseases by destroying 

 the injured fruit. 



The Thinning of fruit is nearly always done soon after 

 the fruit is thoroughly set. It is then possible to determine 

 which of the fruits are likely to persist. Peaches are usu- 

 ally Thinned when they are the size of one's thumb. If 

 Thinned before this time, they are so small that it is difficult 

 to pick them off ; and it is not so easy to see the work of 

 the curculio and thereby to select the injured fruits. Sim- 

 ilar remarks will apply to other fruits. The general ten- 

 dency is, even with those who Thin their fruits, not to Thin 

 enough. It is usually safer to take off what would seem to 

 be too many than not to take off enough. The remaining 

 specimens are better. Varieties which tend to overbear 

 profit very greatly by Thinning. This is notably the case 

 with many Japanese plums, which, if not Thinned, are very 

 inferior. 



Thinning may also be accomplished by pruning. If one 



