8 
The Colorado Experiment Station. 
DOES THINNING PAY? 
It often happens that the fruit grower does not like to do a 
thing unless he is sure that lie will get quick returns for his labor. 
He so often does not look far enough into the future to regulate 
and manage certain factors over which he may have control that 
would insure future returns which would more than pay for any 
extra effort that he might put forth. From this standpoint it is 
necessary to consider other phases than that of the net i etui ns of 
a single year, to tell whether or not thinning pays. These may he 
stated as follows: 
I. Maintaining *the vigor oi the trees. 2. Securing annual 
crops instead of alternate. 3. To be able to produce fruit of maxi¬ 
mum size, color and quality. 
Maintaining the J / igor. —This is a very important factor, for 
any fruit tree when injured or impaired in any manner, will not 
be able so successfully to resist insect, fungus and freezing effects. 
Thinning annually and uniformly will have much to do in pre¬ 
serving this vitality. Whenever the question is asked an orchardist, 
“Why is it that this apparently healthy apple tree is not bearing 
this year?” the chances are that he will answer, either that the fruit 
or bloom was killed by frost, or that it overbore the year before. 
It is noticeable, in this connection, that a tree with a heavy bloom 
will go through the average spring frost with little damage to the 
crop. 
There is no doubt that the orchardist is right when lie claims 
that overbearing one vear will cause “shv” blooming the next with 
some varieties of apples, such as the Jonathan for instance, and the 
writer has seen the Ben Davis affected in the same way. The Wine- 
sap, as a rule, is not a “shy” bloomer, and overbearing may weaken 
the vitality, causing the tree to grow small, inferior apples, some of 
which never properly ripen. 
The* breaking down of limbs is the result of overbearing and 
can only be avoided by either propping or pruning and thinning. 
We firmly believe that props have no place in an orchard and when 
used are only a sign of very poor orchard management. There is 
no doubt that pruning has a very important place in orchard man¬ 
agement and should not, by any means, be neglected. Especially is 
this true for the young trees. If a tree is properly pruned every 
year from the time it is set out, the amount of pruning can be de¬ 
creased somewhat in proportion to the size of the tree when it has 
become full-grown. The word full-grown is used more or less ar¬ 
bitrarily, but generally conveys the idea that the tree is capable of 
bearing a full crop. Some think that every apple tree can be thinned 
*E. R. Bennett, Storrs, Conn. Experiment Station Report, 1903 
