Pruning Mature Trees 145 



will produce as much fancy fruit as the unthinned tree 

 will produce of both fancy and choice. 



Thinning Pears. Methods of thinning pears differ 

 little from those of thinning apples; the principles are the 

 same. As a rule, the pear tree will produce about as many 

 boxes of fruit as will the apple tree of the same age. The 

 fruit is generally picked by installments, and it is possible 

 to mature a large crop of fancy fruit; fruit that is small 

 may be left until it reaches the desired size. 



Pears running from 135 to 150 to the box are consid- 

 ered to be ideal size, and fruit for such a pack must meas- 

 ure from 2J to 2| inches in diameter. Pears larger than 

 three inches are really not as desirable for the fancy fruit 

 trade as those of smaller size. The fruit stands like a pear 

 that can be sold two for five cents at a profit, and there is no 

 profit to be made in selling the larger ones for that price, 

 and they are not large enough to sell for five cents each. 



Thinning Peaches. In growing peaches, much of the 

 thinning is done with the shears in the pruning season, 

 but additional hand thinning is absolutely necessary. A 

 good grade of peaches should run less than 90 to the box, 

 and we may say it seldom pays to ship smaller fruit. A 

 size that will pack less than 80 to the box is desirable. 

 The young peach orchard that has been properly pruned 

 will do well to average a box of fruit to the tree the fourth 

 season in the orchard, and the yield should increase at the 

 rate of about two boxes per tree per year. Unless the 

 trees have been exceptionally well pruned and cared for, 

 they will rarely more than hold their own after the eleventh 

 or twelfth year. 



The one object of thinning, as practiced with the stone- 



