STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 143 



DISCUSSION. 



Mr. Brown — I have not seen many men heading up apples, and 

 I want to know whether they put their best apples at the bottom 

 or not. 



Mr. Williams — We are not picking any but choice apples, and 

 of course putting smooth apples at the bottom ; but they are not 

 better than the rest. 



Mr. Leeper — I put my best apples in the bottom, and my 

 smallest apples are in the middle of the barrel. 



Mr. Cadwell — In picking our apples, we lay them on the 

 ground, because we can get away with them with less labor, but 

 we do not put them on the bare ground if we can help it. If 

 there is any grass in the orchard, we put that under them. Then 

 we can have the sorters get around the pile and handle them with 

 speed. As to putting the best apples in the bottom, if you do 

 not you will get scolded by the commission men ; they will tell 

 you that they want to see your best apples. The purchaser 

 expects the best apples where he can see them. It is not every 

 man who buys a barrel of apples who is going to look at both 

 ends of the barrel, but if he is buying a car-load, he will. If the 

 packer uniformly puts his apples up in an honest manner, and 

 the buyer knows him, his goods will pass better on the market 

 than they will if his character as a packer is not known. In your 

 treatment of the orchard, if you use the spray and prune well, 

 keeping all the dead wood cut out, your percentage of number 

 ones will be much larger than if you neglect the trees. This 

 thing of packing from the trees was not practiced until five or 

 six years ago, but experience has shown that leaving the apples 

 long in piles has a tendency to discolor the fruit, and the policy 

 now is to pack from the tree, and thus you preserve the color of 

 the fruit. As to selling to commission men, if you take the 

 reports, or, rather, the circulars certain to be sent you from 

 Chicago and elsewhere, or if you listen to what they tell you, you 

 can get rid of your apples, and your money, too. I can point out 

 firms that will give you very little for your apples, and others 

 who will do as well for you as your own brother would. You 

 need not be robbed, if you will only inform yourself as to who 

 will handle them properly. Another thing: If you will store in 

 cold storage, those who want number one fruit won't object 



