The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1906-04-11


the profit: pays the mortgage, labor,
fertilizer and cost of everything. 1t
leaves the dollar where you are going |
to have the fun out of it. TO have
high grade fruit we must thin. Have
thousand peaches and leave them all
on the tree and you may have half |
bushel basket with 200 in each. You
may throw 500 away and still have
five baskets of peaches. One may have
not over forty-five or fifty peaches in it
and be worth $3.50 to $500. The other
basket with 200 in will be worth soc.
Fine peaches will bring from ten to
sixteen times as much. besides not
weakening the trees. as little peaches,
which are nothing but seed, skin and
wood. You have law that will not
allow you to sell milk which is more
than so much water We fruit-grow-
ers have the advantage over every
other producer; the more we water
our stock the more they will pay us
for it. and the more solids the less they
pay us for it, Peaches that are 10
per cent solids and So per cent, water
are worth 30 cents, but those only 10
per cent solids and 90 per cent water
are worth $500 or $500. I say, dose
is easiest done by thinning and so get |
ting large fruit full of water. I was
speaking with friend in an adj0in- |
ing town yesterday, about apples and |
peaches of an inferior quality that |
have gone to the market from this |
state and others with first-cIass and |
inferior grades mixed in the same |
package. You understand that i'm man
nj, nj, L., ,af
standard price for damaged goods |
When the manufacturer turns out |
damaged goods he is wise enough to
keep them separate and sell them for
whatever anybody will give: He
means to have as few damaged goods |
as possible. hhwhvhf. we fruit grow
ers have been producing a great MANY
damaged goods. and then, instead Of |
using good judgment and culling them
out. we mix good ones with them and
send them to market and sell the whole
business for the price of damaged
goods. We had to throw in the good
ones. BY proper thinning we can get
the damaged goods down SO we will
not have more than five or ten per
cent. of inferior goods.
In connection with the above read
the following from an exchange. but
written by Prof. r. A. Tarrand. Di
rector of Fruit Station, Michigan.
Thin Peaches for Big CrOp.-FrOm
our experiments we concluded that the
grower raises too many bushels of
fruit. They do not thin the fruit
enough. Our growers would get high
er prices and more money if they
would pay attention and give more
care to the packing of fruit for ship
ment and thin the fruit on the trees
As soon as the peaches reach the size
of IL hickOry-nut. the fruit should be
picked from the trees. leaving the
peaches five to six inches apart-eight
inches would he better.
This will give fewer bushels of fruit.
of course. but the fruit will be larger.
more even in size, better color and the
trees will be more healthy and sure
choppers. Considering the labor re-
quired in picking. packing and trans
porting. and freight in shipping to the
foreign markets. | believe the growers
who vigorously thin their fruit will
make 90 per cent. more than the farm
err who leaves all the fruit on a tree
that it will hold.
| am convinced of this fact from ey-
periments made two years ago We