232 State Horticultural Society, 



go into the barrel. I have seen apples packed in the orchard and by the ' 

 way, do not think of packing anywhere except in the orchard for cold 

 storage. The hauling of apples in wagons a half a mile to a packing; 

 barn or some other place bruises more or less of the fruit. As I started 

 to say, I have seen apples packed in the orchard where, after the barrel 

 was faced, the apples were allowed to drop from the top of the table to 

 the bottom of the barrel, just as many as could go through the opening- 

 at the end of the table at a time. You should have a e:unnv sack arrange- 

 ment so that whenever the packer gets half a bushel of apples in the 

 gunny sack, it can be lowered gently into the bottom of the barrel, opened 

 up and raised to the top for another load. As the barrel is graduallv 

 filled, it can be shaken gently; but very gently, just enough so that the 

 apples will settle to a natural resting place. . Too hard shaking is likelv 

 to bruise some of the fruit. When the barrel is nearly full, use smaller- 

 sized apples for the pressed end. Smaller apples will lit in better, and 

 they are not so easily mashed in the pressing. Softer varieties, such as 

 Jonathans should be pressed very little; otherwise you will damage con- 

 siderable of the fruit. We have opened up barrels of apples in cold stor- 

 age and dug down into them and found a couple of dozen of fine large 

 apples that had been bruised by being pressed too tightly in the barrels. 

 This is frequently a common fault with fancy soft apples, especially 

 when they are nearly ripe. 



Some of you probably wonder why I lay so much emphasis on tlie 

 careful handling of fruit during the picking and packing. I want to sav 

 to you that what I have said regarding the necessity of careful handhng 

 of apples is true of almost every other commodity that goes into col'i 

 storage. W'hy, there is not anything that we get such poor results from 

 in cold storage as fruit, eggs, potatoes, cabbage, celery, and many other 

 commodities that have been roughly handled. Take an egg, for instance. 

 Better put a rotten egg in storage in a case of good eggs than a cracked. 

 ^gg', because the shell of the rotten egg being in perfect condition, that 

 one &gg will not contaminate other eggs around about it ; whereas the- 

 Qgg with the cracked shell, while it may have been perfectly fresh and 

 sweet when it went into cold storage, will soon decay and on account of 

 its shell being cracked affect the eggs surrounding it. 



After your apples are packed, they should be hauled immediately 

 to the car, or else placed in a barn or other building, under shelter, ami 

 sent to the cold storage rooms as soon as possible. If you are compelleil 

 to hold your fruit after being barreled four, five or six days before ship- 

 ping, keep stock as much as possible in a room of even temperature and 

 free from excessive dampness. Your barrels, after being filled should 

 especially be protected from rain. Now it occurs to me that I said 



