THE BEST TIME TO THIN PEACHES.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2100, 27 September 1875, Page 3

THE BEST TIME TO THIN PEACHES.

The season of blooming having again come round, the subject of thinning peaches naturally crops up. The best time to perform this work has been frequently discussed by gardeners, both in England and Australia, and we are not sure that any. practically useful result will be obtained by further discussion. But a contributor to the columns of our English contemporary has imparted fresh interest to the subject by citing the results of his own practice. He states that he has almost invariably noticed that those peach-trees which set the thinnest crop of fruit generally stoned the greatest quantity proportionately—that is, they seldom dropped any portion of their crop at the critical period, and, as might be expected the fruit was both larger and finer; and this has happened, as far as he has observed, with trees carrying quite as heavy a crop as another equally vigorous, but upon which the fruit has been thinned down from a thick-set to the same standard. The writer urges that if these results are as constant as he thinks them to be, it follows that early and complete thinning would be the wisest plan to ensure a fine crop. This indicates the practice of thinning the blossoms as the proper one, and it is a practice which is followed by many first-class fruitS rowers at home The results, however, aye not always been satisfactory. Foul weather has occurred after the disbudding of blossoms. Wet and frost combined are very commonly fatal, nor can the ravages of small birds be wholly guarded against. If all these causes of failure could be prevented, the thinning of blossoms might be carried out to the fullest extent; the exact number of fruit which a tree should be allowed to carry might be left, and all subsequent labour •be avoided. The usual plan is to thinpartially when the fruit is of the size of green peas, ta thin a second time before atoning- commences, and finally when stoning is completed. This last thinning we have always regaded as useless; it is the formation of the seed which taxes most severely the powers of the tree, and, that stage past, the removal of a few fruit affects but slightly the size or quality of the remainder. An experienced grower can tell with almost unerring precision which fruits will pass the stoning ordeal and which will not. As a rule, all the smallest and weakest fail at the critical moment, and the same may be said of the flowers j the finest and earliest are also the strongest and the most likely to stand. In habit and fruitfulness peaches exhibit a great diversity ; certain varieties of high quality are notoriously delicate and commercially unprofitable. This may be said of numbers of fine exhibition fruit; they are thin and uncertain croppers, and to this circumstance, probably, they owe their size and attractiveness.—Australasian.