484 



FRUIT GARDEN. 



more so the several parts of the fructification. 

 No doubt the application of stimulating food 

 would go far to remedy this, by applying it both 

 to the roots and leaves ; and hence trees under 

 glass continue to bear large crops for many suc- 

 cessive years. But these stimulants are not so 

 easily applied to trees in the open air. Were 

 the fruit judiciously thinned as soon as it is 

 fairly set, with something of a like care we be- 

 stow on our peaches and vines under glass, our 

 apples and other hardy fruits would not only 

 yield us year after year an ample supply of 

 fruit, but that fruit would be of a very superior 

 quality. Every deformed or under-sized fruit 

 that a tree is allowed to ripen is like a robber 

 preying upon the energies of the tree; and even 

 when gathered they are found to be of little or 

 no use to the owner. It frequently happens 

 that when apples are set too thick, nature takes 

 the case into her own hands, and points out to 

 man what he should have done to ease her of 

 her superfluous burden, and throws them off 

 herself by thousands. To have fine fruit and 

 yearly crops, judicious thinning should be early 

 attended to. All fruit trees and fruit-bearing 

 plants should be thinned of their fruit as soon 

 as it is fairly set, and for this purpose fine- 

 pointed scissors should be used. It may be 

 considered by many as too high a refinement 

 in fruit culture to say that even strawberries, 

 gooseberries, currants, &c, should be subjected 

 to the same rule. Whatever these may think, 

 one thing is quite certain, that if the finest 

 specimens of these fruits be desired, that end 

 can only be attained by judicious thinning. 

 There is, no doubt, a considerable amount of 



labour attending such a proceeding, and he 

 who will not bestow that labour must be con- 

 tent to put up with a very inferior quality of 

 fruit, and also with diseased and shortlived 

 trees, and the usual failure of crops. There is 

 no garden in Britain where this principle is car- 

 ried out to the full extent it ought to be. This, 

 however, in many cases, rests not so much with 

 the gardener as with the employer ; for there 

 are few gardens in which nearly double the 

 amount of manual labour bestowed on them 

 would not require to be employed, in order to 

 carry out high culture to its fullest extent. 

 Some attention, in this respect, is bestowed on 

 wall fruit-trees, and all our best cultivators, 

 awake to the importance of the matter, see its 

 propriety, and act accordingly. But there are 

 too many who have never thought (or, if such a 

 thought ever crossed their mind, they have not 

 acted upon it) of thinning the apples and pears, 

 cherries and plums, with which now and then 

 their wall trees are excessively loaded ; the 

 consequence is, that for several years perhaps, 

 afterwards, they are saved the trouble, and, 

 until the trees naturally regain their wonted 

 vigour, their walls are devoid of fruit; or if 

 there is any, it is limited in quantity and infe- 

 rior in quality. Peaches and apricots on walls 

 are in general better attended to in this respect, 

 and the consequences are manifest; as the same 

 rule applies to every fruit-bearing tree, the same 

 practice should be followed. By early thinning 

 fruit, another important end is gained, namely, 

 the destruction of thousands of insects which 

 deposit their eggs or entomb themselves in the 

 embryo fruit. 



