The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1909-05-19

How much to thin either peaches
or apples is a hard question to ans
wei. It Is a settled fact that tree
will bring up certain amount o!
fruit up to the proper size. The fruit
may be evenly :cattered all over the
tree or it may be punched in clas.
ters. In either case the size attained
will b about the same. Let me give
an Illustrations: Last spring We top
grated all of our remaining Ben
Davis and Missouri Pippin apple
trees. Our rule in such work is to
select from three to five limbs to be
grated so that when the remaining
limbs are cut off the tree will have
well balanced head. The other limbs
which are not grated are left on the
trees for one year longer. Last spring
we had nearly 1000 trees of these
two varieties top-worked in this way.
Those limbs left on the trees set very
full and we did not thin them at
all except in rare cases where a good
deal of the top was left. What was
the result? On all these trees the
apples, though very thick, were large
and fine. They colored ami
were as good Ben Davis and Missouri
Pippins as we ever raised. They kept
we'll, and / now have some Of those
Ben Davis, kept in a common cellar,
and they are in fine condition, and
this is April 20. In cases where
only about half the top was cut off in
grating, the trees bore as many
boxes of apples as the whole tree
would have borne.
Two things may be learned by this
illustration: One is that you can do
a good deal towards thinning your
fruit by thinning out the tops of the
trees. If the tops of the trees are
heavily cut away, the thinning of the
fruit may be omitted. I do not be-
lieve that we ordinarily do enough
thinning with our pruning knives.
The other lesson we may learn is that
if the fruit Is clustered on one side Of
a tree or in the top, as is simetimes
the case, we may leave it much thick
err than if the fruit was very thick all
over the trees. 1t can be seen that
We can not lay down a hard and fast
rule that fruit must be thinned to
certain distance apart on the trees
That may be done If the trees are
equally full in all parts.
Sometimes we do not need to do
any thinning at all. Some varieties
of apples have a tendency to thin
themselves. We have over two hun
dred trees of the Mammoth Black
Twig. Some years they have borne
enormously, some years very lightly,
but ! think we have never yet has
to thin this variety. Sometimes our
peaches in our old orchard would all
be killed except in the tops of ouc
trees. Then we did not thin at all for
the reason just above given, however
thick the peaches might be in the
TOPS. From all this it can be seen
that a man who raises fruit must
know his business and can not worl,
by rule. Wherever the inexperienced
man is at loss to know what to
do, 1t would be well to consult his
who have been in the bust
ness for years and they can in most
cases help him to solve his difficulties
The thinning of fruit is. not so
common in the eastern states as in
the western. I do not claim any
of the western grower in
this matter for we were compelled to
thin our fruit. If we compete in the
eastern markets we must have finer
grade of fruit, so we were driven to
this thinning by sheer necessity. It
was up to us to thin or fail I con-
fess that when I realized that I must
thin my apples, peaches and pears or
fail, was appalled,. I can see now
why new corners, not accuntomei to
thinning their fruit, ask so many
questions How do you do this thin
ming? Do you shake them off or do
you knock them off with a pole?"
are some OF the questions I have been
asked. When I told these inquirers
that it must be done by hand, how
often the question has been asked,
SIS it not an awful job?" To go over
the whole tree and then go on till the
whole orchard has been thinned is
an appalling job, but i can be done
and must be done except in the cases
I have named where it is not neces-
sary. It costs hundreds of dollars
thin 1orra nrahard