The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1885-07-30
THINNING OUT FRUIT.

A Process That Must BE Resorted to II
the Product BE Satisfactory.
This operation is of equal impor lance
with pruning or attention to the soil;
yet how few are aware of it, and fewer.
still disposed to practice it! 1t is pity
to them to see the fruit cut down, and
the task seems out of proportion to the
profit to be derived from it, if indeed
there is any profit; which is very much
doubted. So the trees are allowed to
overbear, and the fruit to remain small
and Of inferior quality, the unrelieEed
strain tending to and establishing bien.
NAL fruiting
Now, as such fruit is Of reduced val.
ue, and almost worthless as q market
fruit, why not experiment a little, ii
only with single tree, or even bat q
part of the tree, which is certainly no
difficult task, taking but few minutes
of time? But let the test be carried
far enough to get the full benefit, which
requires the removal OF from two-thrds
to three-fourths of the fruit If the tree is
prolific bearer. The difficulty usual
~ is in not removing enough. When
closely sot let not less than three
fourths be removed, leaving the remain.
ing fruit equally distributed through
the tree The result will be about the
same amount Of fruit as il left unthin-
ned. and so improved Is to seem an
other sort in flavor and quality, - well
as in size, which will be- three or four
times as large as if left unthinned, cor
spending to the proportion removed. 1t
will also be found that the work Is not
near 90 arduous as was supposed. Use
. convenient ladder, aud thin out by
hand, removing the Inferior specimens.
The proper time to do this is when the
fruit has attained about the size Of q
cherry among quite small growing
sorts; otherwise a little larger. Even
when thinn ng is neglected TIL the fruit
is half grown, it will be labor well
spent to thin out; but for fair test it
should be done early.
As is well known, there ID a great
difference in the Tearing quality OF
trees; and we find this ieature-that
the shy bearers have usually large fruit,
and the prolific small. It is impossible
for the latter to grow their numerous
specimens as large as the fruit of the
former, But if thinned out so as to
equal the other in distribution, there
will be much less uiaerence in the size
of the fruit
II to thinning is added free pruning of
the branches and attention to the soil,
improvement may be carried to the ex-
tent of materially changing the
character of the fruit making Of poor
variety comparatively good one, nc.
only with young trees, which seem
moe susceptible of change in this re-
spect, but old neglected ones, which 1t
is not generally difficult to rejuvena,e,
and give new lease of life, with the
fruit improved far beyond what the
former usually bad treatment afforded.
No highly prolific tree has sufficient
v,gor to grow the fruit large; the de-
mand is simply too great and the strain
is hurtful 10 the tree, consisting mainly
of the trees effort to grow and mature
its ,seed. This il will do or fail. And
this concentration upon the seed is at
the expense of the remainder of the
fruit affecting its size and quality. The
core will remain much the same. II
the demand here is lessened, which il
win be by the reduction of the number
Of cores or specimens Of fruit the lib
Grated force of the troa will no on
ployed, among other things, in growing
the flesh aud improving the flavor and
quality Of the fruit, leaving the tree at
the same time in . healthy condition -
r. a.. in Counfrn Gsutle,ana