Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1903-04-17
Horticultural.
FRUIT TREES In SPRING.

4ne orcnaruS OF tnls country have |
received more consideration during the
prst decade than for . century previous. !
Crops Of apples we're formerly allowed
to waste on the ground, the trees we're
not protected from insects, and the quail
ity Of the fruit was secondary matter,
while overbearing was considered q for
tunate occurrence. 1t is difficult to con-
vince fruit growers, however, that it is
to their advantage to thin the fruit Of
the trees. and in that respect they suffer
a loss which could easily be avoided. l.
1t is maintained that the amount Of fruit
on a tree may be regulated in two ways
by pruning away part Of the branches
to prevent the formation of too much
fruit, or by picking off the superHuous
fruit as soon as possible after it is formed.
With such fruits as grapes, raspberries,
blackberries and the like pruning is pre-
ferred, as it is more easily done than by
picking off the fruit. In the case Of
currants and gooseberries, which are, as
rule, pruned less severely than grapes,
raspherries and blackberries, thinning
might be an advantage. With currants
the removing Of the tips Of the stems
gave 10 per cent. more berries to the
cluster, and the separate berries we're Z
per cent. heavier on the thin bushes
than on the others. There is also the
attractiveness of the fruit 10 market,
which must not be overlooked, as the
appearance has much to do with the
prices obtained.
1t seems like sacrifice to deliberately
remove the fruit from the tree, yet at
the Hatch station the yield of Craven
stein apples on the trees that had been
thinned by hand was nine bushels of
first quality fruit, one bushel second
quality aud 10 1-2 bushels wind fall.
On other varieties the trees that had
been Trimmed Of fruit gave two bushels
OF choice fruit, while the unthinned
trees gave none at all. The market
value of the fruit on the trees that had
been thinned was from two to ii times
rs much as that from the others, the
net gain ranging from IS cents to S1.85
per tree. The results with plums were
very similar to those with apples re-
garding the increased production of fruit.
A tree each of Guci and Victoria plums
was divided into approximately equal
halves, one-half being thinned and the
other half being left as a check. The
thinned half of the Guci tree yielded
nine quarts of marketable fruit and the
unthinned half FIVE and a half quarts.
The yield of marketable fruit from the
thinned and unthinned halves Of the
Victoria tree was 16 quarts and nine
aud half quarts respectively, the net
gain due to thinning being 20 cents and
Al cents respectively. Another remark
able result affected by disease.
The advantages Of thinning fruits from
the trees are many. Thinning increases
the size of the fruit, gives more color
ard also better flavor. 1t diminishes
the proportion of windfalls, increases
the amount of FIRST quality fruit, and
the total yield is larger, while higher
price per bushel is obtained. It lessons
the amount Of rot, especially in the case
of peaches and plums, the disease spreads
less easily where the fruits do not touch
each other. Thinning also tends to keep
all injurious insects in check, as care is
taken to remove all infected fruit. An
other point is that it weakens the tree
more to produce large quantities of in
ferior fruit than to yield the same guam
tity of first quality fruit in bushels, as
the extra amount Of seeds in the more
numerous apples, peaches, plums. etc.,
taxes the trees severely. II is we'll
known that many trees that are over
loaded one year seldom bear the next.
but by reducing the work required of
the trees it is possible to have a crop
every year. Favorable years, which are
marked by great production of fruit.
overcrowd the market, low prices ruling,
only choice fruit selling at profit, and
with the increase of quality due to thin
ming follows better prices. a slight in.
crease in the prices being the difference
between profit and loss. The proper
time to thin is before the fruit becomes
so large as to overtax the tree, aud the
picking OF the fruit should be done in
manner so as not to allow the iruit TO
touch, giving distance Of from four to
six inches between each The advan-
tanges of thinning have been clearly
shown to give better prices and larger
yields, but the greatest obstacles in the
way is that Of inducing fruit growers to
thin the fruit, as many of them look
upon the practice as a sacrifice .-Phila-
delphia Record.