Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1901-05-31
The Thinning Of Peaches.

Commercial peach growing has developed
n recent years in the states along the Great
-alzes, in some of the Central States, in the
ozark region of the Southwest, in Texas, and
along The coast from Florida to the older
peach growing sections of New Jersey and
Delaware. Competition in the markets is
more severe and consumers want better fruit
than ever before. Small peaches break the
market annually and no longer pay the eX-
penses of orchard care and marketing The 4
demand is for good sized, well-cOlored fruit. /
Most varieties overbear. The tree endeav- 1
ors to form a large number ofseeds while the
peach grower wants large fruit. The two
processes are opposed to each other. seed or
pit production eXhausts tine tree and causes
it to bear small fruit, while it is the aim Of
the orchardist to grow the largest possible
bulk of peaches with the smallest bulk Of
pits. \ bushel oflarge fruit exhausts the tree
less than a bushel of small fruit. The bigger
peaches have a greater proportion of flesh,
which is principally water.
The principal advantages of thinning are:
l. II makes larger and more uniform fruit.
p Large fruit exhausts the tree and soil less
than an equal amount of small fruit.
3. 1t Insures more regular crops.
l. The fruit brings higher prices.
Thethinning should begin when the peaches
are as large as small cherries and should end
before the pit hardens, as thinning done after
that period does not seem to increase the size
of the remaining fruit. IN Delaware,it should
begin by the first week in June when the cur
culio-stung fruits, and the unfertilized and
weak fruits, which later fall in the "June
drop can be detected of the remaining
peaches, no two should stand closer than six
or eight inches, and it is sometimes .prOfta-
BILE, especially in years Of general heavy bear
ing, TO thin Elbertas and other large sorts to
ten or twelve inches. Spurs should generally
carry one peach and seldom more than two
Peaches have to be thinned by hand. No
mechanical means of thinning is eff Client or
advisable. In large orchards where the trees
are low-headed and the work can be done
principally from the ground, it costs from
eight to twenty cents to thin heavily set trees
that are six to eight years old. 1t is more
/ expensive to thin high-headed trees that are
never pruned back.
In the peach belts where thinning is gener-
ally practiced,th trees are grown on the low
headed system and the annual growth is
I shortened in from onethird to twO-thirds.
! This pruning is done after the danger of win
ter killing is over and before the blooming
period. It is thinning process, as ftremOves
many fruit buds, and it has a further advan
tage in inducing new growth annually along
the larger branches. The superfiuOus wood
induced by the shortening in must be re-
moved annually. A preliminary thinning
may be done at this time of year by cutting
out unneeded bearing wood and by shorten
ing the bearing growth.
In l900,the Experiment Station made a crit
ical study Of peach thinning in Michigan
where the practice is general,and it was found
that profit ofone to five dollars was realized
by many Of the best peach growers for every
dollar expended.
The Experiment Station, however,dOes NO
mean to convey the impression that peacl
thinning is all that is necessary to insure
large fruit. Thinning is but one of the essen
tial operations in modern intensive peacl
growing The others are tiiling, fertilizing
pruning, sometimes spraying, and market
ing. 4 good crop is the resultant ofthe com
bination Of these practices, not of any one o
them praeticed singly.
The crops of 1896 and 1900 demonstrates
that it is no longer good business policy T.
grow smallipeaches. 1t is therefore suggeste
, that every peach grower who cannot prac
tice general thinning apply it to few row
this year and study the effect throughout tn
season. At the end Of the year the Expert
ment Station would like to know of the sue
cesses and failures, in order that they may
studied in a cooperative way.
The following proposition is submitted i
s closing the suggestions. The peaches hay
to be picked at some time Is it cheaper I
, pick the small peaches now and throw theI
D on the grOund,or to pick them all when the
are ripe? The remaining peaches shOul
l. make as many baskets if the thinning is pro
= erly done and cOrrespondingly good orchar
n management is bestowed upon the trees.
# DELAWARE COLLEGE AGRICULTURAL En-
PERTINENT STATION.
r Newark, Delaware, May p, 1901.