Milford chronicle., 1883-05-18
THINNING cur FRUsT.

cattle raising than to plant it wit
fruit trees and not devote as muc
time and attention to them as to an
other crop, for they will no more tax
care of themselves, than corn, whea
potatoes or any other crop. The ide
that there is naturally an off year fo
fruit is fallacious, although popula
notion. Any gardener who shoul,
adopt it, and fuil TO supply his employ
el's tab e every year with a good sup
ply of fruits, would soon be dismissed
from his service.
The primary cause offruit trees only
bearing on alternate years, Is Overbear.
ing This 50 weakeRs the tree that il
has not reeuperative power sufficient,
TO enable it to bear a crop during the
succeeding year. It is with vegeta-
bles as with animals, over breeding
produces impotency. No good. care
ful farmer would over use a stallion,
bull, or ram in the breeding season for
he would by SO doing impair his virili-
ty and vitality. Hence it is that gar
deners who understand their business.
always thin out the fruit ON their trees
when it has reached certain stage of
development. By so doing, although
they lose in number of fruit. they
make up for it in the Increase of size,
color and flavor of the remainder, and
when thecrupis gathered have as much
weight and measure as they would
have had ifthey had allowed all the
fruit to remain; bringing much more
money, and leaving the tree sufficient,
strength to bear a SIMILAR crop the
next year. The exhaustion of the
tree is not so much in the weight of
fruit it produces, as in the quantity of Z
seeds it bears.
This is no new-fangled notion but is
an old practice among intelligent fruit [.
growers, and was followed in this State
over forty years ago by some of the =
most successful fruit growers on the a
peninsula, as the following commune d
cation to an agricultural journal in g
1912 will show. The writer says: n
The most extensive peach orchard 81
Il
that of Messis. Isaac Reeve and Jacob v
lidgeway Of Philadelphia. 1t is forfv- 81
I've miles below the city. on the river NJ
delaware, at Delaware City, and con- W
tains two hundred acres of trees in diff Or
lefent stages of growth. In 1889 they an
gathered from this orchard lS.OOO ~
bushels of firsl-rate fruit from one hun =.
dred and seventy acres of trees. where -
o. only fifty acres were in full bearing y"
W hen the fruit has attained the size Cd
OF a musket ball it is thinned. One of on
these gentlemen informed me, that of ca
that small size, they had gathered in Rr
that year, seven hundred bushels. by stu
measure, Of the immature fruit. Bv ths
this judiciOus management, while the to
amount of fruit was but little dimin- res
shed, either in weight or measure 40,
Us size and beauty was thus greatly
improved, so that their fruit was the
landsOmest in the Philadelphia mar vii
Ket, and during the best Of the season. cot
much Of it was sold at S4 so to So. .OO a d
ne basket, of three pecks ia measure. at y
since that period they have increased riel
heir orchards which now comprise bee
hree hundred acres" fee,
10 most of our fruit growers this lion
lrocess Of thinning the fruit will ap- from
ear TO be a useless and Improbable con,
lbor but they must bear in mind that irieI
be cost ofpicking the ripe fruit is one awe asd
alf less, than If it had all been left Az, tDV
n the trees, aud besides that the fruit less
'ould all have to been gathered the with
My difference being that it is done at are
70 different times The much higher PLATE
rices which such fruit brings ought to Fo
: an incentive to follow this practice. OS d
hen again. the commission merchant guy, Sui
i'll always endeavor to sell such fruit shov
'st. as his commissions are so much mill,
eater on each crate or basket. When illness
Z selling ten crates Of good fruit he EF
n make as much commission as he shou
~ by selling twenty crates of inferior lure
lit, he will let the latter stand until ~
has sold the former, and the infer snv i
{ fruit comes in at the tail end ofthe edeed
,rket. or when it is already supplied that il
th good fruit, and thus entails loss ness D
the grower. Further, the cost Of fact. 2
: crate or basket, Of carriage and of IN DAN
lghtege are the same, whether the SKI
= - et'"s7 u,'y veu's Ut i've uol- chum
package. III tnls case, as in better
ny others, it is not true that q It tax
10y saved is penny gained.p more
N the srd Of May, Hon. Virgil Gren- eoIs u,
aud wife Of FELTON, celebrated the Is to &c
~ second anniversary Of their we'd lated b
&. The united ages ofthe old couple SIEVE
ne hundred ana sixty four. They Draw o
g born ia Litebfeld County Conn. water
red with their parents Into the .-s. ~o.Ae'
Is Of Wayne County Penn. While In, a,'S,' Al
e young they lived as other young it with
'le did, sparked and were married. up in 50
! which. he purchased about 100 thin mu
8 Of heavy timber land on the beau You are
banks Of the Lackawana River. are p'ea
cleared of the timber and built a yVui lA'
e wherein they lived until 1896. ,nb,ss, No. /
after the close Of the war thew tbe',iybt
"a 20 this place IN eighteen hun 49,, al,
aud thirty-seVen NAG. was elect ''
member OF the convention neSus'
amend the Consultation Of 'ney nav
sylvania Of which onveniion OF cows
is but one other surviving 10 rus on
1er, the hon Charles Brown, Of with less
:, who is ei4hty-dve years OF that mum
ld one Of DOver's honored aud ia. am
ny citizens. Alr. g. received q Grange hi