WP Sgt OP ae ge eK ee ee eer PF 
ee. ee ee ee ee ee ee” Se oe eee, ee eee ae ee ee ee. Fe. ee ee Cee eee ee ee ae ee ee ee ee eee ee ee ae 







30 STORRS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 
TABLE I. 
| bo 
co) | : é Bae ote Os Ge oO (oS a 
¥ | Total gy Said g mt a bg pm Eo: ae 25 
oS) NO ACES | Eo Ese Se eee ee 2 eee 
-lApples.| 5 5 ts ia & & Soa | os BS eee toe 
zZ Sieh eer : zalaal’"s| "8 |e 
Hrs 
I | 4075 | 1260 | 2440 | 375 | 437 x8 | 529 | 725 | $6.25 |$1.19 | 2 
2°\° 623705), 1450 | 3615 | 12050) O8e 148 | 536 | 755 | 9.80] 1.15 24 
3h 5005 seat ASL TO NR ZB OS 43 535 | 570 1.755 | 7-62 | 1035) = 
4 | 4900 | 925 | 2825 | 1150 | 53% 126 -| 530°} Jiro.) 8/00 Mapr 3s eae 
5 PATOO Wh meee 1 G04 TOyO Mad, 238 1 547 | P50 |) FOC es InOGe ers 











The usual objection to thinning—that it takes too much time 
—is hardly worth considering when we figure the difference in 
value between the product of the thinned and the unthinned 
trees. The cost of thinning No. 4 was 22% cents, and the 
difference in value between the product of the two trees was 
¢r.00, a gain for the thinned tree of 77% cents. On No. 2 the 
cost of thinning was 35 cents, and the difference in value be- 
tween the product of this tree and that of No. 3 was $2.18, 
a difference of $1.83 in favor of the thinned tree. 
Another important point should not be lost sight of. Divid- 
ing the fruit into grades is an operation which takes consider- 
able time, especially when most of the apples are close to the 
dividing line. No record was made of the time required to sort 
the fruit of the thinned and the unthinned trees, yet it was a 
noticeable fact that much more time was required to grade 
apples from the unthinned trees, owing to the large per cent. 
of apples that were a little too small to go as first grade. It 
was thought that the time saved in grading the thinned fruit 
would about make up for the time spent in thinning. 
Thinning to Produce Annual Bearers.—The tendency to pro- 
duce a crop of fruit on alternate years has become so fixed 
with some varieties that they are known as alternate bearers. 
Whether this is a natural or acquired characteristic is an open 
question. We have no proof that such varieties as Baldwin or 
Northern Spy would not have been annual bearers, had a ju- 
dicious system of thinning been followed from the origin of 
these varieties. Itis not probable that at this time any amount 
