Fruit Brevities. 417 



sheds it is importaiit that the roof be well shaded in order to 

 keep the building cool; or if that cannot be done, then there 

 should be a story or half-story above the apples to keep the heat 

 of the sun from the storage room. 



I have been so much pleased with the thorough and systematic 

 wav in which the Yeomanses handle their fruits, that I have 

 asked Mr. L. T. Yeomans to give me an account of their practice 

 and which now follows: " We long ago found that it economized 

 labor in the hurry of the gathering season, if we could put our 

 apples under cover, where we could keep them much later than 

 in the open orchard, and could work on rainy or very cold days, 

 thus prolonging the season, for both the workman and ourselves, 

 at the time when it is most difficult to secure plenty of help. We 

 think it a great advantage, when it is desired to keep apples late, 

 that they be packed in the barrels as late as possible. Allow 

 them to sweat in the pile rather than in the barrel, and any 

 which are disposed to decay early will have begun to show signs 

 of decay and can be thrown out. The weather is also colder 

 than when they are picked from the tree, especially where one 

 has large orchards and must begin picking as early as possible. 



'^ In gathering quinces and pears, w^e send all the packing force 

 to the orchard during the latter part of the day, and by spread- 

 ing the fruit thinly, on a little clean straw on the ground under 

 the open shed, they become cooled during the night, and are 

 in good condition for putting up the next morning; when, if left 

 on the trees, they would be so wet from the dew that we could 

 rarely pick them until they had become warmed by the sun and 

 in an undesirable condition for packing. 



'^ For a packing-house, w^e prefer an open shed, opening to the 

 east, adjacent to a building in which the barrels can be stored. 

 These barrels should have one head nailed and marked with the 

 grower's brand, and the other taken out and placed in the open 

 barrel before passing it out into the shed for filling. We use a 

 ground floor covered with a little clean straw. Our shed is 20 

 feet in depth, in bents of 14 feet. Planks 2x10 or 12 inches are 

 placed across the front from post to post as desired when filling, 



27 



