Experiment in Thinning Apples. 301 
is no reason why the same should not be said of 
other kinds of fruits, and for every fruit region. 
There have been no long-continued and system- 
atic experiments upon the thinning of fruits in this 
country. One of the best investigations which has 
yet been undertaken was in connection with the 
State Experiment Station at Geneva, New “York, 
under the direction of 8S. A. Beach in 1896. These 
experiments were made upon full-grown apple trees, 
and the following extract* details the methods and 
the results : 
“Trees of the same variety, as nearly alike in 
all respects as could be found, were paired for com- 
parison, one of each pair being thinned, the other 
left unthinned. Three ways of thinning were tried: 
“First.—All wormy, knotty, or otherwise inferior 
fruit was removed, and all clusters thinned to one 
fruit. 
“Second.—Same as first, and remaining fruit 
thinned so that the apples were not less than four 
inches apart. 
“Third.—Same as first, and the remaining fruit 
thinned so that the apples were not less than six 
inches apart. 
“The sixteen trees which are included in the 
experiment belong to three varieties, namely: Rhode 
Island Greening, Baldwin, and Hubbardston. The 
Baldwins were most heavily loaded last season, and 
gave the most marked results in favor of thinning. 
“With the first method Baldwin, thinned, gave 
*Proc, W. New York Hort. Soe., 1897, p. 75. 
