64 The Fruit-Growers Guide-Book 



CHAPTER III 



Thinning and Harvesting 



Thinning 



The practice of thinning fruit on the trees is not as 

 extensively practiced by fruit growers as it will be in a 

 few years in the future. The competition in fruit growing 

 is becoming more keen each year, and the markets have 

 less poor fruit each year, and the time is not far distant 

 when the commercial orchardist cannot afford to grow 

 fruit which will not measure up to the present standard of 

 fancy. Thinning is done for the purpose of removing a 

 portion of the fruit on the trees so as to allow that which 

 remains to reach a larger size. It is profitable only on 

 trees that are carrying a heavy load. To a certain extent 

 the thinning can be done by pruning away some of the 

 fruit producing wood, but in other cases it will take hand 

 thinning to properly distribute the fruit. 



It has been frequently argued that it costs too much to 

 thin, but as a matter of fact, it will cost no more to pick 

 the fruit when it is small than it will when it reaches 

 maturity. In many instances it will not cost as much. 

 It is money well invested at any rate, as the reducing of 

 a heavy crop works to the advantage of enlarging each in- 

 dividual fruit left on the tree, and allows the tree to form 

 fruit buds for the next year. In regions where the trees 

 tend- to an alternation in years of fruit production, the 

 thinning of the crops will regulate the alternating habit. 

 In the Western states where trees regularly overbear, 

 thinning will allow the trees to make more wood growth 



