INDIANA HOETICULTUKAL SOCIETY, 4Y1 



But to return to my subject. The ripening period used to bother me 

 a great deal. I have been talliing about the growing of apples, now I 

 shall talk about picking them. Some folks think you should gather 

 apples in the dark of the moon in October. I do not pay any attention 

 to the moon myself. I read an article in an agricultural paper saying 

 that apples should be picked on the tenth day of October, and things like 

 that. Now there is no more reason why we should gather our apples at 

 a certain date than we should cut our corn or oats on a certain date. 

 Nature has provided a certain time for apples to mature, and there will 

 come seasons when certain apples will mature quicker than at other 

 times, and they will then begin to fall on the ground. The first that 

 fall may have worms in them, but as soon as the good apples begin to 

 fall to the ground, don't lose any time in gathering them. When you 

 can put your hand under the fruit, raise it up, and it will separate nicely 

 from the stem, then it is ready to be picked. This is the same with 

 cheiTies, plums, pears, etc. It is sometimes best to gather three or four 

 times from one tree. Just the same as with berx'ies. This is true with 

 the Hubbardston that my friend spoke about. You should commence in 

 time to do this. This is also true with the Woif River. There is one 

 advantage in this. This apple is a good cooking apple when it is only one- 

 third grown and we make apple sauce out of them. There are several 

 varieties of apples that should be gathered this way. The Grimes Golden 

 must be gathered quickly. As soon as they begin to drop we begin to 

 gather them and put them in barrels and ship them to cold storage. I 

 have the picking in mind when I choose my trees. I commenced buying 

 trees fifteen years ago, and I called for a low top tree with a good stem 

 and good roots. At that time many advocated high tops, but I was always 

 in favor of the low topped tree. The stem should be protected from the 

 cold wind and the hot sun. Thei'e is also an advantage when we go to 

 gather the apples. Most of my apples can be picked from the ground. 

 I can truly say that we can stand on liie ground and pick one-half of the 

 apples. 



Walter Smith: Dp they do as well when they grow near the ground? 



Mr. Zion: I think so. I do not notice any difference. We have what 

 we call a low down or handy wagon with a large platform, sixteen feet 

 long and seven feet wide, which will hold from forty to fifty bushel 

 baskets. We take everything we are going to pick off the trees and put 

 it into the baskets. Now as to packing. I have tried packing right in the 

 orchard, but it was very unhandy as the hammers were always lost, you 

 couldn't find the nails, and it was very inconvenient, so now we do all 

 of our packing at the packing house where we can have everything in 

 readiness. In the packing house for two or three years I graded the 

 apples. I am now trying a different plan with some of the varieties. 

 I put the apples as they come from the tree in barrels and send them to 



