and will result in a large gain in the value of the trees, and at 

 a minimum of injury in the operation. 



A second thinning should be made in about two weeks. At 

 this time every imperfect specimen should be taken off, and 

 a space of six inches left between all large varieties that grow 

 to two and one-half inches or more in diameter, and four to five 

 inches should be left between medium-sized varieties that reach 

 two and one-quarter inches in diameter. 



This method will give very much more of the high grade 

 fruit that is most in demand, but most difficult to obtain. It 

 will save the productive energy of the tree, and in time will 

 result with many varieties in an annual production of apples. 

 When a tree is allowed to carry an overload of fruit it cannot 

 perfect the fruit buds the same year that it is maturing a large 

 quantity of fruit. The sole purpose of the tree is to produce 

 seeds. Its beautiful and fragant blossoms are not put forth 

 for human admiration and enjoyment but rather to attract in- 

 sects, especially bees, which in going from flower to flower carry 

 and distribute pollen to the blossoms to give vigor through 

 cross-fertilization, that there may be greater certainty in the per- 

 fection and development of seeds. 



The process of seed-making is exhaustive of the food ele- 

 ments of the soil, and especially of the phosphoric-acid which 

 is highly essential in the formation of seeds. If from fifty to 

 sixty percent of the apples are taken off, in a full setting of the 

 fruit, a very large saving is made in plant food and in the energy 

 and vitality of the tree. A very much higher price will be se- 

 cured from the sale of the fruit, and with no reduction in quan- 

 tity, as, owing to its increased size, there will be as many boxes 

 or barrels of fruit as if the thinning had not been done. 



The cost of thinning on large trees forty or fifty years old 

 with a heavy set of fruit will be from forty-five to sixty cents 

 a tree. On younger trees from fifteen to twenty years old the 

 cost will range from fifteen to twenty-eight cents a tree accord- 

 ing to the variety. 



When the advantages and value of thinning are understood, 

 the cost of the operation is not only justified but becomes 

 imperative. 



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