CHAPTER XVII 



THINNING 



Among the orchardists throughout the country the practice of 

 thinning the apple crop has not met with as universal approval 

 as other methods of orchard culture. However, in the West, where 

 the competition in fruit raising is very keen, the practice has been 

 readily adopted in the belief that by this means an apple of superior 

 value could be produced. Many progressive Eastern orchardists 

 later followed this plan, and each year it is becoming more common. 



The same principle is involved in the thinning of the apple 

 crop as in the thinning of beets or other vegetables ; that is, the 

 removal of a large percentage of the young plants gives to the re- 

 maining plants the necessary space for their proper development. 



The apple tree, in its attempt to reproduce its kind, strives for 

 the production of the maximum amount of seed. A small apple 

 is as efficient as a large one in this respect, for seeds are often 

 as large and as numerous in small apples as in large ones. It so 

 happens, however, that man covets the apple for its fleshy parts, 

 and the fewer apples per tree the greater will be the development 

 of the fleshy parts of the fruit. The larger the apple, within certain 

 limits, the larger the edible portion and the more highly it is valued. 

 Take, for instance, two perfectly sound, well-colored Jonathan 

 apples — the one that is less than 2\ inches in diameter would be 

 considered a cull, worth about 5 cents a bushel by any fruit-shipping 

 association, and would be fed to the stock or made into cider or 

 thrown away ; the apple that is about 2| inches in diameter would 

 be considered a fancy apple and be highly prized by any lover of 

 fruit, its wholesale price averaging from $1.00 to $1.25 a bushel. 

 In other words, according to the market standards, by increasing 

 the diameter of the apple \ inch we increase its market value from 

 20 to 25 times. Surely if we are engaged in commercial apple 

 production we cannot overlook a consideration of this kind. By 



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