THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
189 
EEMAEKS OX FRUIT TREES. 
BY A SUBSCRIBER. 
VERT gardener at this season of the year is looking with 
great interest to his fruit trees, endeavouring to divine 
what kind of a crop each is likely to produce. This 
important question cannot always be decided by the 
presence of abundance of blossom, for many causes 
may render abortive, trees which have been covered with beautiful 
flowers. Frost may yet commit ravages ; blight may make the 
voung fruit to fall prematurely ; and even the excess of production 
may so weaken the powers of vegetable life, that a crowded exhibi- 
tion of bloom may end in sterility. 
It is too late now to suggest precautions against frost, nor can 
we do much in preventing the damage done by blight except it is by 
picking or washing off insects as they appear. But the last occasion 
of a deficient crop comes under our own control, and deserves at 
this time the thoughtful consideration of the gardener. 
When the florist wishes to have tine flowers at a horticultural 
exhibition, he allows only a few to grow on the plant, which receive 
the energies which would otherwise be expended on the perfecting a 
greater number. 
For the same reason wall fruit is thinned when too many are set 
to allow of all to be large and fine. 
This principle, generally well understood and acted upon, is little 
thought of in reference to an overcrowded display of blossom. Fruit 
trees are covered with one mass of flower, and we congratulate one 
another on our excellent prospects. But a little consideration will 
show us that, if too many set fruits may injure one another, too many 
blossoms may come under the same category. 
It has been recommended to thin out the blossoms of pear trees, 
in order to secure a crop, and the advice is philosophic. In the 
case of trees whose fruit grows separate, as apricots and peaches, 
this necessity is not so pressing ; but when it appears in a cluster, as 
with the pear, it is obvious that there is danger of one pushing off 
its neighbour in the act of growth. I have a pear tree at the corner 
of the house with a southern and eastern aspect, so that the tree in 
spring has two different climates to grow in. It is always covered 
with blossoms, and makes but little wood. It would appear as though 
a crop should be secured on one side or other of the tree, but in five 
years we have gathered only four pears. Having read the advice to 
thin out the blossoms, I ascended a ladder when the tree was in bloom 
to reconnoitre and form my own opinion on the subject. The clusters 
of flowers I found very large, some having as many as twenty on 
one stem. The lower row, which blooms first, was set, while the 
upper tiers were scarcely in flower. I pinched all off but the lower 
row, consisting of three or four blossoms, and I now hope to succeed 
better. However, if I do not, the principle will not be altered, and 
I shall attribute the failure to a cause yet to be discovered. It is 
manifest to me that with such a crowding of blossoms, all ran a 
great risk of being shouldered out of their places. 
June. 
