102 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETT. 



PICKING, STORING AND PACKING APPLES. 

 By John W. True. 



The subject before us is one that may well engage the attention of 

 all orchardists as competition grows sharper and sharper, and the 

 question of profit or loss becomes more and more a vital one, so that 

 every point must be studied and looked at in all its bearings to find 

 out the best methods and the cheapest way of executing them. An 

 orchardist may raise a very fine crop of apples and that, too, at a 

 decided profit, and then b}' improper handling and marketing, the 

 balance after all may be on the wrong side of the account. In the 

 first place, we must begin at the foundation in order that we may 

 start aright, for if we begin wrong it makes it more difficult for us 

 to work out the per cent, of profit in our business. In setting our 

 orchards see to it that all the trees of a variety are in one locality or 

 nearly so, for it makes it very inconvenient. It takes time, and 

 "time is money," especially at the harvest season, to have a dozen 

 or twenty trees in one locality and have them of as many diflferent 

 varieties. I have in my mind an orchard of five or six acres in 

 extent, that the varieties are mixed, thoroughly mixed, so that a 

 man going into that orchard to gather the apples has got to go all 

 over the ground for each variety' ; therefore I say, have each variety 

 by itself as far as possible, then you can go yourself or send your 

 help and ever}' step will count. After the trees are properly set 

 then they are to be taken care of, see that they make a good growth 

 every year, and in order for a tree to do that it must be fed in some 

 way either by top dressing and mulching or by cultivation. The 

 experience that I have had teaches that where it is practicable the 

 better way is to cultivate them, having some other crop on the ground 

 while the trees are growing, and in order to do that you will be 

 obliged to remember that you must put on dressing enough for the 

 crop and the trees, and an orchard treated in that way from the time 

 it is set out until it is in full bearing condition, will produce fruit 

 that is worth harvesting even at our present low prices, not forgetting 

 all this time to prune and shape the tree for the purpose for which it 

 has been grown. 



Now, that we have got the trees properly grown, it will be seen 

 that they are in a first-class condition for the operation of picking 



