THINNING FRUIT. 29 
quality, the expense of having the work done is so great that it 
cannot be made to pay with ordinary fruits that are to be sold 
in the open market. <A well known writer on the subject, from 
whom we quote, expresses the prevailing opinion when he says, 
“It will not pay to thin all classes of fruit. Only early or 
fancy varieties of apples will reward the cultivator for the ex- 
pense and labor of thinning.’’ 
It is true that all varieties of fruit do not respond to thinning 
alike. Lombard and /apanese varieties of plums respond 
quickly to thinning, the results being a large increase in size 
and improvement in quality; while the Damson type of plums 
does not show any very marked difference in size and quality 
‘between the thinned ones and the unthinned. 
As to the advisability of thinning standard varieties of apples 
that are to be sold in open market, some experiments carried 
on by Profsssor A. G. Gulley in the orchards of the Connecti- 
cut Agricultural College at Storrs, Conn., will throw some light 
on the subject. 
Five medium sized Galdwin trees in a good state of thrift and 
with as near the same conditions as possible were selected. No. 
I in the table had no check, Nos. 2 and 3 were practically the 
same size, as were also Nos. 4 and 5. Nos. 1, 2, and 4 were 
thinned, leaving Nos. 3 and 5 as checks. The thinning was 
done July 15th, 1902, at which time it took 20 apples to make 
a quart. The early dropping was over, so there was no danger 
of leaving too few apples on the trees. On No. 1, according to 
estimate, one-third were taken off; on No. 2, one-fourth; while 
on No. 4 the thinning was mostly done on heavy-laden limbs. 
These trees had been previously sprayed for apple scab and 
codlin moth, so that the subsequent dropping caused by these 
troubles was light; but Nos. 3 and 5 dropped the most. 
The apples when picked were graded by the rules of the 
Apple Buyers’ Association; 7. ¢., 1st grade, 2/4 inches or over 
in diameter, 2nd grade, 2 to 2% inches. It should be noticed 
that while all the apples were undersized or only fair-sized, the 
firsts in Nos. 3 and 5 required more apples to the barrel than 
did the thinned fruits. Especially is this true of No. 3, where 
570 were required to the barrel as against 536 OLUNO Sena bad 
the thinning been carried further on Nos. 2 and 4, it is prob- 
able that larger apples would have resulted. 
