CHAPTER VI 



THE THINNING OF FRUIT 



Thinning of fruit is an established orchard practice at the 

 present time. It has long since passed the experimental 

 stage. However, many successful commercial growers do 

 not include it among their operations because its necessity 

 has not been so apparent as has that of pruning or spraying. 

 The western growers have been pioneers in this work from a 

 commercial standpoint probably because their practice of 

 packing fruit in small packages, notably the standard box, 

 has made thinning not only necessary but profitable. The 

 present tendency is for all fruit-producing states to have a 

 packing and grading law, and when this is accomplished the 

 thinning of fruit will doubtless become still more general. 



87. Definition. — By thinning is meant the removal of 

 a portion of the crop of fruit from the trees shortly after 

 the June drop (/. e., soon after it has set) to prevent over- 

 bearing. 



88. History of thinning. — The practice of thinning fruit 

 is by no means modern, but like many other agricultural 

 operations, no definite time or place seems recorded as its 

 origin. The pomological writers for many years have men- 

 tioned it as desirable and have urged its use. In his "Trea- 

 tise of Fruit Trees" published in London (1768), Thomas 

 Hitt says, "When there is too great a quantity of fruit 

 suffered to remain upon any part of a tree, it is not so good 

 as if there were only a proper quantity left on; and some- 

 times a tree becomes weak by bearing too plentifully. . . . 



"Fruits are thinned the best either with a very narrow- 

 102 



