Jnne S, 1887. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
455 
0 
10 
11 
In 
Leyton Flower Show. 
•S 
11 
8 VX 
1st Sunday aftee Trinity. 
18 
M 
14 
To 
Royal Horticultural Pocioty. Frnlt and Floral Committees at 11 A.M. 
Royal Botanic Society*u Show. York Gala (threj days). 
15 
W 
THINNING HARDY FRUIT. 
' ——^ 8,UIT thinning &s applied to hardy trees is a 
neglected practice in present-day gardening. 
It would he reckoned grave neglect on the 
M-k, part of a gardener who failed to see that his 
Turnips or Beet or Parsnip crops were not 
■duly thinned ; and were he to be so far left to 
himself as to allow the Grapes under his 
charge to go without thinning both in bunch 
and berry, what could be said of him ? I suppose a 
gardener of that kind nowadays would be quite a curiosity 
if he be met with at all. But when we get outside, especi¬ 
ally among Apples, Pears, and Plums, then we arrive at 
exactly the conditions that would be found were Grapes 
left unthinned, though of course in a much modified form. 
Hardy fruit culture is carried on in the most hap¬ 
hazard manner from beginning to end, and the system of 
allowing the trees, if they set a full crop, to carry all 
cannot under any circumstances be called gardening. I 
confess that Apricots get a rough thinning, but when these 
set a large crop, as a rule, they are insufficiently thinned, 
and consequently the trees suffer the following year, frost 
most likely receiving the burden of blame. No matter 
how irresistible may be the impulse to allow a heavy crop 
to swell, the logic of large fruit and a succeeding crop is 
more irresistible still, and consequently every fruit should 
hang at a fair distance from its neighbour, and no clusters 
be allowed. 
Plums are hardly ever thinned, and the consequence 
is that in most cases the trees bear a crop biennially, and 
generally then at the ends of the shoots. Large sorts 
6uch as the Magnum Bonums, Victorias, and others, and 
fine dessert varieties such as Jefferson and Coe’s Golden 
Drop should be thinned as carefully as possible. All 
deformed and small fruits are thus removed, and that left 
is of the finest quality when ripened. Smaller sorts and 
those for kitchen purposes do not require so much atten¬ 
tion, but certainly these should also be thinned sufficiently 
to allow all the fruit left to attain a good size, and also 
to secure the trees bearing year after year. As I have 
found that both Apricots and Plums do best fruited on 
spurs, it is made a point just now, when the fruits are 
being thinned, also to thin any spurs which are becoming 
crowded and which are free from fruit. 
Pear trees on a southern exposure have been thinned 
for some time, and the fruit left has swelled to good pro¬ 
portions. Trees on a western exposure are now requiring 
attention, and shall be looked to at once. Unless the 
clusters are very sparse over the trees, no more than one 
fruit should be left to swell on each, though in the case of 
strong-growing early varieties like Williams’ Bon Chretien, 
Souvenir du Congres, or Beurre d’Amanlis, this rule 
No. 3G3 .—Vol. XIV., Third Series. 
may be somewhat relaxed, a heavier crop doing the trees 
no harm. Small varieties such as Seckle and Dr. Hogg 
may be left two fruits to a cluster, but with a heavy set less 
on an average should be left. Tears are so highly appre¬ 
ciated when in the best condition that it is advisable to 
err in leaving a too thin crop and securing first-class 
fruits, than to have too many and secure as the result a 
number which may not he presentable at table. This is 
also a good time to remove any spurs which are too thickly 
placed. 
Coming now to Apples, I am certain that, provided 
we grow good sorts, no fruit pays better for thinning than 
these do. Some require very little or no thinning, as 
they never set more than the trees are able to carry to a 
good size. With us it is found that Ecklinville, Warner’s 
King, Duchess of Oldenburg, Mere de Menage, never set 
large crops, and consequently need little or no thinning. 
Still, it pays to go over the trees and remove any twins. 
Lord Suffield, Cellini, The Queen, Keswick Codlin, Nelson 
Codlin, and Stirling Castle require a good deal of thin¬ 
ning. Those of a utilitarian cast of mind may be inclined 
to ask, Does it pay, and for Apples especially ? There 
is no question of doubt that it pays. For one thing, the 
chances of a loss of crop are reduced, as the trees are not 
overtaxed; for another, the fruit is so much better, that if 
it is to be sold it fetches on the whole more money, and if 
to be kept for home use the fruit keeps better, and is of 
better quality. Two years ago I had some old trees which 
were bearing large crops placed under my charge to make 
the most of, and 1 was very glad indeed to get the fruit dis¬ 
posed of at 4s. cwt., a price which did not pay the trouble 
and expense of gathering and marketing. At the same 
time, for well-grown fruit from 12s. to 20s. a cwt. was 
being received. Last year the cheap fruit trees bore 
nothing. The trees that had been tended had just as 
large a crop. That I know is not an exceptional instance, 
and must prove that it pays, but from the point of view of 
the hard-worked gardener can it be said to pay? and here, 
I think, the reply is equally conclusive, for if it pays to 
thin and tend common vegetable crops, it most certainly 
will in the case of hardy fruit. But the difference is that 
in the one instance the vegetables are expected, and in the 
other so many things may occur— e.g., an overcrop one 
year, or a killing frost in spring, so that the Apple, Pear, 
Plum, and Apricot supply is reduced to a question of 
chance outside the province of the gardener; but I 
am very certain it need not be so to the extent it is, and 
the present thinning out of the young fruit is one of the 
most reliable methods of placing the fruit supply on a 
basis of some certainty.—A Northern Grower. 
[Unquestionably the subject of thinning hardy fruit 
crops is important, and without doubt the practice advo¬ 
cated by our correspondent is very much neglected. The 
relative prices quoted for the produce of trees that were cul¬ 
tivated and of others that had been neglected afford the best 
testimony that profit results from good management, and 
that loss is incurred by want of it. The magnificent Apples 
that are exhibited at the best autumn shows are the 
result of cropping judiciously and affording the trees 
adequate support. Such fruit is not surpassed, if equalled, 
by the best samples that are sent from other lands, and 
which appear to frighten the timid in this country into 
the belief that fruit-growing can no longer be profitably 
conducted at home. Our correspondent knows that it can 
be, and he is not situated in one of the most salubrious 
districts of Great Britain.] 
No. 2019.— Vol. LXXVI., Old Series 
