Thinning the Fruit 



To maintain an orchard to a high degree of productivity it 

 is most essential to conserve the productive forces of the trees. 

 With the soil liberally supplied with the plant food necessary to 

 maintain annual growth of wood and regular production of 

 fruit, supplemented by good culture and right pruning, trees 

 will set more apples than they can properly mature. 



Trees do not produce fruit for the benefit of mankind but 

 rather for their own perpetuation, and if there were not a human 

 being on earth, trees would produce fruit just the same. For 

 the purposes of perpetuation nature is always prodigal, and 

 trees will overload with fruit that there may be the greatest 

 possible production of seeds with which to perpetuate the 

 species. Therefore when ' nature is aided by artificial means 

 through systematic propagation and culture, the productive forces 

 of the trees must be conserved by regular thinning of the fruit. 



This should be done first when the apples are one inch in 

 diameter. At this stage men should be instructed how to do 

 the work of taking off the surplus fruit. All apples should be 

 removed that are closer than three inches to each other. Fre- 

 quently there will be two, three, and four apples in a cluster 

 on one fruit spur — all but one should be taken off. Some skill 

 is required in this operation and great damage may be done 

 through ignorance, for in breaking off a fruit spur as is fre- 

 quently done, no fruit will ever again be produced in that place. 



In thinning, the stem of the apple should be taken between 

 the thumb and first finger and firmly clasped, when the young 

 apple is grasped by the second and third fingers and by a quick 

 drawing movement is pulled or snapped off the stem. This 

 will save the fruit spurs from being broken through trying to 

 pull off the apples by main force. Women are particularly 

 suited to this work, which they do most skillfully, and on low- 

 headed trees requiring only step ladders, they can readily' do 

 the work. With the best of care some fruit spurs will be broken 

 but at the most, they should not exceed two or three percent. 



In giving instructions to those who do this very important 

 work the principle should be clearly explained. The work will 

 then be done with an intelligent understanding of its purpose, 



27 



