THINNING 



165 



the removal of part of the fruit crop at an early stage in its devel- 

 opment this increase in size can be obtained, and it is often 

 impossible to obtain it otherwise. 



In the production of fancy boxed apples the necessity for thin- 

 ning has been more apparent as competition has become keener. 

 But while the practicability of thinning peaches and pears is no 

 longer doubted, the majority of apple-growers have not yet realized 



Fig. 76. Apples waiting for the press 



Would you rather produce this sort at five to ten cents a bushel or thin yc 

 high grades? 



the value of systematically thinning their apples. The time is fast 

 approaching when the intermountain fruit-grower will be forced 

 to the conclusion that it no longer pays to grow ordinary fruit. 

 There are but few localities in the United States in which medium 

 to good apples cannot be raised, and this grade of fruit must every- 

 where compete with the home-grown product. On the other, hand, 

 localities in which strictly fancy apples can be raised are much 

 less numerous ; therefore such grades less frequently come into 



