fruit Thinning Advised by Expert fromU.S.A.C.,L The advisability of thinning fruit The advisability of thinning fruit the conditions of the trees, says Dr A. L. Stark of the Utah State Agri cultural college extension service. Under most conditions fruit of larger size will demand a higher price than smaller sized fruit. By reducing the total number of fruits per tree early in the growing season sea-son an increase in size results to those remaining on the tree. The sooner the thinning of fruit is done -after the June drop, the better the y results as a general rulc. This year, however, there is present in some sections serious damage from hail. On trees that were not thinned earlier there is " often enough fruit set to allow the i removal of the fruits most injured ' by hail and still leave a good crop. Although the cost of thinning may seem high, it should be remembered remember-ed that the fruit must be picke'd at harvest if not thinned earlier and that it costs more to handle a . rull fruit when harvesting than a thinned fruit. It should also be made clear that the material going into a cull fruit would make larger larg-er first grade fruits if the culls were removed early in the season. If proper thinning is practised no reduction in total yield results and the quality of the crop is greatly improved by the thinning operation. opera-tion. In other fruit growing sections thinning is a standard operation as is pruning, harvesting, and spraying in Utah. Many Utah growers nave inirnca ineir iruit for a number of years and are still doing it with full intensions to con tinue the practice. They claim it is .3. paying propositio nand just as important as spraying. The number of fruits removed in thinning will depend upon the vigor of the branch thinned. A vig orous branch with healthy green leaves can mature to good size more fruits than a weaker growing branch. Each branch must be considered con-sidered separately when thinning. Under average conditions about 50 leaves per fruit in peaches and apples ap-ples will be sufficient tr,make good size. Thirty to forty leaves per fruit will produce a good sized fruit although somewhat smaller than when a larger number of leaves per fruit is left. Take off all small, injured, and irregular fruit first when thinning. If. there are still too many fruits left remove sonje of the normal specimens. Gather and burn all insect in-sect or disease infested fruit while thinning to reduce the pest population. popula-tion. Thin now if you have not already al-ready done so.