450 



THIXXIXG FRUIT 



more satisfactory for thinning than men, since they do the 

 work just as well on the average and more rapidly 



Cost of Thinning, Thinning costs are influenced by spread 

 and height of trees, cost and quality of labor, the extent of 

 crop on the trees, and other factors. The AYest Virginia Sta- 

 tion found that, with labor at 20 cents per hour and doing the 

 work very carefully, it took 65.3 minutes per tree to thin Ben 

 Davis trees 21 years old bearing 12 to 15 bushels each, or an 

 average of 21.8 cents per tree. It was found that middle-aged 



{Md. Exp. Sta.) 



Fig. 174. Effect of thinning old Greensboro peach trees in a dry season. 

 {A) Yield per tree with fruit thinned 6 to 8 inches apart — 2V2 bushels of 

 peaches, 2^/4 inches in diameter, and bushel of peaches l^i inches in 

 diameter. (B) No thinning, 1 peck of 1% inch peaches and 3 bushels of 

 culls (less than 1^4 inches). 



trees with low heads, bearing about 15 bushels per tree, could 

 be thinned on the average for 30 cents per tree. In sections 

 where the cost of labor exceeds 20 cents per hour, the expense 

 would be correspondingly increased. 



In large orchards in the Shenandoah-Cumberland district, 

 in 1927, it took on the average 25 minutes per tree to thin 

 12-year-old Oldenburg (Duchess) trees bearing bushels of 

 fruit; and 28.2 minutes to thin 15-year-old Wealthy trees 

 bearing 6 bushels of fruit. 



