40 Lessons in Fruit Groioing. 



be. Thorough thinning of the fruit of the more product- 

 ive varieties, when they produce excessively, tends to make 

 them annually productive. 



A — THE APPLE 



42. The apple is generally regarded as the most import- 

 ant fruit of temperate climates. Owing to the wide varia- 

 tion in season of maturity of its numerous varieties, it is 

 available in its fresh state throughout the year, and it 

 serves a great variety of uses in domestic economy. The 

 adaptability of the fruit to transportation, and the product- 

 iveness and longevity of the trees in favorable localities, 

 mate it the cheapest and the most widely known and used 

 of the temperate fruits. 



43. Cultural range. The apple is commercially culti- 

 vated in southeast Canada from Nova Scotia to Lake 

 Huron, and in southwest Canada in British Columbia. In 

 the United States it is more or less grown north of the 

 35th parallel, except in the arid regions of the west, and 

 north of the -iSth parallel in the Mississippi valley and 

 Great Lakes region. The hardier crab apples succeed some- 

 what farther north than the common apple. 



44. Fruiting: habit and pruning. Figure 5 shows a twig 

 of a bearing apple tree as it appears in winter and early 

 spring. Let us suppose that the part from the apex to A 

 grew during the spring and summer of 1900, a bud form- 

 ing in the axil of each leaf. Then the part from A to B, 

 except the part immediately below the upper buds, grew 

 in 1899, and the part below B except the short branches, 

 grew in 1898. These branches grew in 1899, forming 

 flower buds F, which opened in the spring of 1900, and as 



