Experiment in Thinning Apples. 301 



is no reason why the same should not be said of 

 other kinds of fruits, and for every fruit region. 



There have been no long -continued and system- 

 atic experiments upon the thinning of fruits in this 

 country. One of the best investigations which has 

 yet been undertaken was in connection with the 

 State Experiment Station at Geneva, New York, 

 under the direction of S. A. Beach in 1896. These 

 experiments were made upon full-grown apple trees, 

 and the following extract* details the methods and 

 the 'results : 



"Trees of the same variety, as nearly alike in 

 all respects as could be found, were paired for com- 

 parison, one of each pair being thinned, the other 

 left unthinned. Three ways of thinning were tried : 



"First. All wormy, knotty, or otherwise inferior 

 fruit was removed, and all clusters thinned to one 

 fruit. 



"Second. Same as first, and remaining fruit 

 thinned so that the apples were not less than four 

 inches apart. 



"Third. Same as first, and the remaining fruit 

 thinned so that the apples were not less than six 

 inches apart. 



"The sixteen trees which are included in the 

 experiment belong to three varieties, namely : Rhode 

 Island Greening, Baldwin, and Hubbardston. The 

 Baldwins were most heavily loaded last season, and 

 gave the most marked results in favor of thinning. 



"With the first method Baldwin, thinned, gave 



*Proc. W. New York Hort. Soc., 1897, p. 75. 



