D'WYEE'S GUIDE. 13 



and even the fruit. If we begin spraying our trees wlien there is just a 

 light sprinkling of scale there is no reason why we should not be able to 

 keep it under control. We have been able to rid several country places 

 of this pest, which have been under our supervision, with the following 

 mixture: Twenty per cent, crude petroleum and 80 per cent, water, 

 which should be applied in the early Spring just as the buds are begin- 

 ning to swell; at that period the trees have a greater power to resist 

 the penetrative qualities of the oil than during the winter months. The 

 mixture should be applied in a thorough manner so that every particle of 

 the tree will be reached. 



THINNING THE FRUIT. 



A quarter of a century ago this was practically unknown and prac- 

 ticed by very few fruit growers, either amateurs or professionals. To- 

 day it is considered one of the paramount and first requirements to the 

 production of the choicest fruit grown, either for pleasure or for profit. 

 No practical, thorough, up-to-date grower of fruit would feel that he was 

 giving his trees the best opportunities and advantages to develop their 

 possibilities if he omitted this important work. In fact, he 



would not think of neglecting this part which is so necessary 

 in order to produce a ciioice number one grade of marketable 

 fruit, and the kind of fruit that there is always a demand for at remuner- 

 ative prices, almost regardless of the general market conditions. Then 

 if our aim is to grow the finest fruit for our own use we must of neces- 

 sity resort to this "thinning of the fruit." It is not as laborious or ex- 

 pensive a work as one would imagine from the first impulse ; we have 

 learned this from long years of varied experiences with the different 

 tree fruits. No work in connection with your fruit growing will pay 

 you correspondinglj' better than this. Apples, peaches, pears and quinces 

 should be "thinned out," or, to be more explicit, the surplus fruit removed 

 from the tree so that no two specimens will be nearer together than five 

 or six inches. Plums and apricot fruit should be four inches apart. 

 This "thinning out" should be done when the fruit is about the size of a 

 white walnut. Peach and plum trees have frequently been killed by 

 this excessive over-bearing of a comparatively inferior and worthless 

 crop of fruit that under proper "thinning" would have matured a profit- 

 able crop, besides being preserwed for good money-makers for j'ears to 

 come. 



THE USE OF CLO^'ER. 



We want to advise the use of the Clovers as enrichers of the soil. 

 We have found nothing so valuable to "bring up" worn out lands. 

 Where one has an impoverished piece of ground that is needed for fruit 

 culture or in fact for any crop, he can plow the ground during the months 

 of July or August, harrow it thoroughly and with a top dressing of stable 

 manure, wood ashes or a commercial fertilizer, seed it down with clover, 

 firming the seed in the soil with the use of the roller. Under ordinary 

 circumstances this clover will make a growth of ten to twelve inches in 

 height before the end of the growing season. It can be plowed under 

 in the late fall or early spring. This crop will add large quantities of 

 humus and nitrogen to your land. This is decidedly the best and most 

 economical way to enrich your soil and bring it up to the highest state 

 of fertility. It is desirable and at all times beneficial to use the clovers 

 as a cover crop between your fruits during the winter months. We 

 practice this method ourselves and recommend it to all, especially 

 among the tree fruits, as well as for Currants, Gooseberries, Raspber- 



