44 SUCCESSFUL FRUIT CULTURE 



is often one dollar to three dollars per barrel, which 

 leaves a large margin for profit, while the improved 

 condition of the trees for future crops is no inconsider- 

 able item in favor of thinning the fruit. The time for 

 this work will vary somewhat with different varieties, 

 but it should be done as soon as the imperfect and wormy 

 fruit can be detected. In doing the work great care 

 must be taken that the spurs and leaves are not pulled 

 off, for more injury than good might result if very 

 much of the foliage was removed in the process of 

 thinning. 



AGE OF BEARING 



The average age at which the apple will begin to 

 bear profitable crops is from ten to twelve years from 

 planting in the orchard, varying somewhat according 

 to the variety, the soil in which the trees are grown 

 and the care given them. With proper treatment good 

 crops of fruit should be realized for at least fifty years, 

 although the average bearing age of the apple orchards 

 of the country is much less. 



Odd Year Bearing — In most orchards large crops 

 of fruit are produced only upon alternate years and this 

 bearing year has become more or less fixed upon the 

 even year in most Northern fruit sections. The cause of 

 this condition may be climatic, as a severe late frost or 

 freeze, a long storm while the trees are in bloom. It 

 may be due to overbearing one season, which results in 

 the exhaustion of the tree, requiring one or more years 

 thereafter to develop fruit buds again. Drouth for a 

 succession of seasons may also bring on the same con- 

 ditions, as may the depredations of canker worms or 

 other insects. In 1884 a severe frost or freeze occurred 

 on the night of May 30 in the western part of Massa- 

 chusetts, and upon the southern and eastern slopes the 

 young fruit was frozen and the crop destroyed, while 



