Thinning Small-fruits. 805 
the absence of dead tips on the stems, the clipped 
clusters were much the more attractive.” 
Experiments made at the Cornell Station* with 
raspberries and blackberries failed, however, to give 
such specific results: “To test the feasibility of 
thinning berries, rows of Cuthbert raspberry and 
Early Cluster blackberry were thinned by clipping 
off the tips of most of the clusters, and also by 
reducing the number of clusters, especially in the 
raspberry. The result was not encouraging, for the 
eye could detect no increase of size in the berries 
on thinned plants, and as the principal object was 
to increase the size and attractiveness of the fruit, 
it seems to have failed of its purpose. It should 
be said, however, that the season was favorable for 
berries, and the crop was very fine. In a very dry 
season, or with varieties much inclined to overbear, 
the result might be different. In general, however, 
the thinning can be managed well enough and much 
more cheaply by regulating the amount of bearing 
wood at the annual spring pruning.” 
The thinning of tree fruits is done in essentially 
the same way in which the fruits are picked; that is, 
the. fruits are picked off by hand, and are then 
dropped onto the ground, where they may either be 
allowed to lie, or, if they are infested with insects 
or disease, may be raked up and burned. It is 
customary to thin the fruits as soon as the dangers 
of spring frosts and other early accidents are past, 
*Fred W. Card, Bull. 57, Cornell Exp. Sta. (1893). 
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