185 
A few figures will demonstrate that the lesser number of fruit 
from a tree that has been thinned equals or even surpasses in 
volume the crops from an overloaded tree that has not been thinned. 
Two peaches measure respectively 144 inches and 3 inches in 
diameter; some might imagine that the second is twice the size of 
the first, in reality it is eight times as voluminous, or, in other 
words, it would take eight times the number of 11-inch fruit to fill 
a bushel case which would hold a given number of three-inch 
peaches, for the cube of 1.5 is 3.375, whereas the cube of 3 is 27, 
or eight times as much, In the same way, two apples measure 2 
inches and 4 inches in diameter, the larger fruit is not twice as big 
as the first, but eight times larger, for the cube of 2 is only 8, 
whereas the cube of 4 is 64, or eight times more. By a similar 
reasoning it is easy to demonstrate that fruit 3 inches in diameter 
is more than double the size of fruit 2 inches in diameter. For con- 
venience of calculation in multiplying and dividing let us reduce 
the inches to quarter inches, and it is thus found that the volume of 
a fruit 12 quarters in diameter is more than three times the size in 
cubic measurement of another fruit S quarters in diameter. 
Thinning not only increases size,but also improves appearance. 
It thus pleases the consumer, sells easier, and is more profitable to 
the grower. Poor fruit, on the other hand, eluts the market, brings 
down prices, and often does not pay for handling. 
The theory of thinning having now been minutely gone into, a 
few practical hints regarding the method, so far as the different 
varieties of fruit trees go, may be of value. 
Hand labour, as in many other operations which require skill 
as well as judgment, is the only practical method at present. Apri- 
cots are the first fruit which come ready for thinning, and this may 
be commenced when the fruit is about the size of marbles, and 
according to kinds in October or towards the beginning of Novem- 
ber; at that time the fruit has stopped dropping, and the seeds 
have not commenced to harden. If too many are still left remove 
more just when the stone is hardening; as some of the fruit often 
drop off at that time, as explained below, a second thinning may 
not be found necessary. 
Apricots intended for canning or drying should not go more 
than 10 to the lb., and to attain that weight they must measure 134 
inches in diameter, and should be thinned to about 21% inches apart 
on the branches where the trees are well loaded, and have not been 
thinned by frosts or by beetles. Should they have dropped a great 
many fruit, and left them in bunches, the smaller fruit only, which 
would not develop, are rubbed off. Californian apricot growers 
consider that a healthy tree, having a body three inches in diameter, 
or a little over, should carry fifty pounds of fruit, and at 10 to the 
