The mountain Democrat., 1863-06-27
ThinuinRORFruits.

ciety, at the recent meeting in Boston,
Mass.
"One leasen SNish experience has
taught US Is the Importance Of thinning
the fruit, especially Of apples and pears.
This branch of Pomology has received
comparatively little attention. There is
a limit to the capabilities of all created
things. If you tax the energies ofan
animal too severely for long time, the
result will be premature age and decay.
Subject any vegetable or mineral sub
stance to too great pressure, and you de-
stroy its power Of c0hes&ons So T sou
permit tree to bear beyond its strength
you injure its fruit, retard its growth,
and shorten itS Nss. -AN lJarr ol,stgred
that superGecundity one year produces
barrenness the next. Hence we hear
among our farmers and gardeners Of
what they term the bearing year. They
invariably designate the Baldwin apple
as tree that bears on alternate years.
But is not the cause Of this alteration
found in the fact, that the abundant crop
Of the bearing year exhausts the ener-
gieS Of the tree, and absorbs the pabulnm
so as not to leave sufficient aliment for
the formation of fruit spurs for the sue
ceeding ycarS Many varieties have
tendency to overbearing, especially those
which produce their fruit in clusters.
Nature herself teaches us the remedy for
this evil, and supcrabundancc Of bios
som is generally followed by q profuse
falling of the embryo fruit. When and
where this dropping is not sufficient to
prevent overbearing, we should resort to
the process Of relieving the tree Of por-
ton of its fruit.
"The organism which carries on health
iul development, in order TO repeat its
cycle Of functions from year to year, can
not he overworked without time for re-
cuperation. Whatever of nutrition goes
to the support of useless branches, or
redundancy of fruit, abstract that strength
from the tree which would otherwise be
appropriated to the perfection of the crop,
and the development of the spurs which
would bear fruit the next year. One Of
the best cultvators in the vicinity Of
Boston has reduced this theory to prac-
tice, with the happieSt effect, in the cul-
livation Of the pear. His system allows
no useless wood, nor mere fruit spurs,
and no more fruit, than the tree can prop
erly sustain. AS consequence, he pro-
duces superior fruit every year, which
commands the highest price. Some have
doubted whether this practice can be
made remuncratve, except in its applica'
ton to the finer fruits But another cul-
tivator, who raises an annual crop Of the
best apples, assures us that the secret of
his success is the thinning Of the fruit,
and he has no doubt Of the economy of
the practice. No good farmer doubts the
necessity of thinning his root crops, no
vgneron the proprety of thinning his
grapes. Analogy Of cultivation, there
fore, justitics the practice, and | enter
tain no question OF its great importance.
Light, air, moisture, are essential to
the production of vegetable products, and
especially of fine fruits. Who has not
observed that the best specimens of fruits
on tree are ordinarily those which are
most exposed to these elements? Who
does not select the full sized ruddy fruit,
which has free communion with light,
heat aud air, in preference to the half fed
specimen which has shared its own proper
nourishment with five or six crowded ri
walls on the same spurY
An experienced English cultivGtor
says:-
The bending Of branches Of trees by
an over crop of fruit is most injurious,
for the pores of the woody stalk are
strained on the one side of the bend, and
compressed on the other; hence the YES
sells through which the requisite nouriSh
ment flows being partially shut up, the
growth Of the fruit is retarded in proper
ton to the straining Of the stalk" This
is illustrated in the ovcrbearing of some
varieties, which form a redundancy Of
fruit, without the process of early and
thorough thinning, seldom produce good
specimens, and i'll few years become
Stinted and unhealthy trees. The over
bearing of u tree is as much tay upon
It's energies aud constitution, as is the eX
haustion Of field by excessive crops of
the same kind, year after year, without
return of nutritive materials. lneXhaus-
tible fertility is chmera of the imagina-
ton. Sooner or later, the richest soils
will require restoration of what has
been abstracted by vegetation. However
fertile at first, the constant overcrOpping
Of the soil is a reduction of the elements
on which health and fruitfulnesS depend.
| This great principle of sLstenance and
reciprocal relation runs through the
whole mass Of life, Of mind, and of mat
ter.
"One cry with never ceasing sound,
Circles CreatlOn's ample round"
Intimately connected with this process
of thinning, is the time when the work
should be executed. II should not be
done before we can distinguish the choi-
cest specimens in cluster Of fruit, nor
| delayed so hong as to waste the energies
of the tree. This practice, judiciuusly
followed, will superSede the necessity Of
staying up the branches, will prevent in.
jury to the tree by their breaking, aud
will prove decidedly economical.
Associated with the thinning Of fruits
is the expediency of gathering part Of the
crop as soon as it approaches maturity.
The remaining specimens will thereby be-
much increased in size and excellence
The fruit of tree does not all come to
maturity at the same time, hence this
succesSional gathering will turn the crop
I to the highest practical account, and will
keep the productive energies Of the tree
in healthful and profitable condition"
--~O~%
A MARRIAGE is noticed in the Danbury
Times, in which the happy pair are unu-
sually explicit in stating their position.
They say:
mo cards, no reception, no wedding
tour"