Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1916-07-11
Paws to Thin Fruit. .

PAYS to Thin Fruit.
| (Bliss 8. Brown, Maine University
1t pays to thin fruit because the frui
left on the tree will grow larger and th'
tree will have greater energy to grow
fruit next year. The proper thinning o.
fruit Is the first step in the harvesting
operation. When correctly done In th'
earlier stages, it saves considerable time
in the latter. The principle on which
the thinning of fruit Is based is to de-
velop larger and better fruit without .
corresponding loss of vigor or health oi
the tree. Many trees will set more
fruit than they can possibly develop to
good size and all of the energy goes into
the fruit, while the development OF fruit
buds for the next years crop is CORE
spondingly weakened. Hence q great
many fruit trees bear only every other
year. By proper thinning the fruit will
develop to q good size and the trees will
have sufficient energy to mature crop
of fruit buds for the succeeding year. In
this way many trees which have habit
of bearing only every other year are
made to bear every year, thus adding
materially to the desirability OF the
fruit.
The effort OF every plant is to repro
duce its kind, and anything that weak
ems the tree tends to increase the devel-
opment of seed. Hence we often have a
diseased condition of trees which makes
them set much larger crop OF fruit
than they would ordinarily. If the crop
is large, the effort of the tree Ia thrown
into seed production with correspond
ing loss to the fleshy part. If number
of the fruits are picked off the surplus
energy going into the development of
seed will increase the total quantity OF
the flesby part.
All good fruit must be picked by hand.
n some of this work can be done early
in the season, when the fruit may simply
be dropped on the ground, 1t will save
considerable time and money. II at the
same time the-fall picking will yield as
large a quantity of fruit as II the thin
uing bad not been done, its Importance
will have been established. Numerous
experiments have been made to demon
strate just what this difference would
amount to and the average of the various
experiments show that in the long run
the yield will be increased about 5 to 10
percent and the percentage Of first quail
ty fruit increased from 10 to 25 percent.
In most every case this increase In quail
ity becomes very noticeable, while the
increase in quantity is not always so ap-
parent.
just what time to thin fruit and what
kinds and varieties need most attention,
will depend largely upon local condi-
tions. Young trees from 5 to 10 years
of age should not be allowed to over
bear. II q large crop is set, it should be
thinned down to what the branches will
support and to what the fertilitv of the
soil will bring to the best size. Varieties
of apples that are normally small are
helped but little by thinning because the
big markets do not like an undersized
apple. Varieties like the Tolman Sweet,
Roxbury Russet, or some OF the early
summer apples are not usually benefit
ed much by thinning. But the larger
sized apples which will pack nicely In
tention should be paid.
Old trees which have become very
large are not usually thinned very much,
but even In such cases II sometimes pays
TO do so. Especially on trees from 5 to
10 years Of age, thinning should be one
Of the regular orchard operations.
The methods OF thinning would be.
briefly, as follows: First, the pruning
in the spring does certain amount OF
thinning. Second, the June drop which
takes of the surplus of young fruit that
may have been fsrtilized but which the
of the tree would would not al
low 10 develop. The third process 10
the thinning by hand which usually
takes place in the spring when the young
apples are about 1.2 inch ip diameter.
These should be removed by hand both
on young trses, and on the smaller twIrs
Of older trees. The apples left should
DOT be clossr than. 4 inches. No two
apples should be allowed TO grow In the
same cluster. Those showing worms or
conditions can also be removed
at thi. time. The apples picked of are
simply allowed 10 drop on the ground
where they are plowed under or, better
still, raked up and destroyed, so as to
dispose of insect pests.