Winter Meeting. 231 



'^5 



months the shrinkage was something awful. Xow, we knew that it 

 could not be the fault of the cold storage, because here was other stock 

 right beside it, in the same room, the same temperature, the same hu- 

 midity, the same care, the same conditions, and practically no shrinkage. 

 AVhat was the cause of this fruit's not keeping? Nothing more or lesS' 

 than because the apples had been allowed to fully mature on the trees. 

 After an apple has become fully matured, it will stay in a perfect state 

 of preservation for a short time, according to surrounding conditions. 

 Then gradually the process of decay starts in, and cold storage nor any- 

 thing else that I know of can entirely stop it. By picking apples for 

 storage before they are fully matured, it becomes necessary for these 

 apples to complete their maturity in the cold storage, and because of the 

 very low temperature this completion is a very slow process, taking 

 some time, with some sorts six to eight months; but after the completion 

 of maturity of any apple in cold storage, the process of decay will slowly 

 commence; and while cold storage will retard decay in any stage, it 

 cannot stop it. 



There is not any one thing, therefore, that I desire to be more em- 

 phatic about than not to pick perfectly ripe fruit for cold storage. It 

 will not pay you, and we do not want it. The best way to handle fruit 

 matured is to put it on the market at once. There is n6 reason why a 

 man with a small or medium sized orchard cannot pick and pack the 

 greater portion of his fruit without any of it being fully ripe ; but in case 

 lie cannot, he would better have it a little too green than too ripe. Green 

 fruit will gradually mellow in cold storage, and such varieties as Hunts- 

 man and Grimes Golden will gradually change from green in color to a 

 yellowish tinge very much like the natural color of the fruit when ripe. 

 I'en Davis, Winesaps, and other sorts, however, will not change much, 

 if any. It is therefore very desirable that the red apples be allowed to 

 mature as much as possible in order to get the proper color. 



How to pick and handle! This is a question I am sure needs very 

 little comment from me, as almost anvbodv with common sense knows 

 that an apple must be picked by hand ; and either placed carefully in a 

 basket on the arm or in a sack over the shoulder. Apples should be 

 handled very carefully from the time they are picked off the tree until 

 they are placed in the barrel. Do not allow them to drop or roll. A 

 break in the skin or a bruise underneath the skin will start decay in that 

 apple much sooner than if it were perfectly free from such defects. 

 The less you handle an apple the better. I would therefore suggest that 

 they be not piled on the ground and then be rehandled to the apple table ; 

 l3ut that the pickers bring their apples direct to the table from which they 



