in pruning is more profitable than recipes to repair damage.

Fruit-pruning, or thinning, is the removing of so much fruit, when it
is small, as will allow the remainder to mature to its best and
constitute a maximum yield; it reduces the quantity of inferior fruit,
lessens the number of culls and the labor at packing time, conserves
the energy of the tree by preventing the maturity of great numbers of
seeds, diminishes diseases and pests. The overloading of the tree not
only imposes a heavy tax on its vitality but is likely to break the
limbs and to work much physical damage.

Thinning may consist in removing part of the fruit in the cluster (in
the case of varieties that tend to mature more than one fruit from
each flower-cluster), in picking all the fruits from certain clusters
or pairs of clusters, or in cutting away some of the fruit-spurs
before blossoming time.

The removal of the fruit itself is usually performed after the
"June-drop," when the extent of the crop is evident. The fruits are
pulled off by hand or cut with thinning-shears, the latter practice
being the better since it is not so likely to break the fruit-spurs.
The least promising fruits are taken away and the remaining apples are
left at least five or six inches apart in most varieties. The extent
of thinning must be governed by the variety, thrift of the tree,
result desired, and other conditions. To secure the best results, the
apples should be thinned when still small.

Thinning by early-spring removal of fruit-spurs is a very special
practice. It is employed on dwarf trees and on those specially
trained. It should be undertaken only by a careful and experienced
man. It is not to be inferred that the fruit of the apple is all borne
on spurs, for some of it may be derived from terminal buds on the new
axial growths or even from lateral buds; but the spurs are conspicuous
and readily recognized. Of course the ordinary pruning of the tree
removes fruit-bearing wood and is therefore a thinning process.

Within sensible limits, therefore, pruning is an invigorating process
in the sense that it deflects the energy to remaining parts of the
tree. What is called too heavy pruning, whereby the tree throws out
abundance of water-sprouts, is illustration of this fact: the tree is
thrown into heavy growth of adventitious shoots. The tree may not
produce more pounds of substance, or even more total feet in length,
but new energy is developed in certain