WINTER MEETING AT CARTHAGE. 89 



THINNING. 



This is a subject of great importance, and one which but few of our orchard- 

 ists have ever practiced to any extent. Ordinarily the codling moth has thinned 

 the fruit sulliciently in most orchard3, but tliose who practice spraying will find 

 some years they will have to thin or harvest a large crop of small fruit, and their 

 trees will be injured by over-production, f know of but one method of thinning 

 that 13 practical, and that is by hand. This may seem like a slow and tedious 

 procees (and it certainly is), and requires a large amount of courage to commence 

 this work of destruction in a large orchard, but I think it will pay. Try it and 

 see. In thinning, remove all small and faulty specimens, leaving the largest and 

 most perfect on the tree ; the fruit should be removed before the seed is formed. 

 Some recommend thinning by cutting out the branches. I do not like this, as we 

 ■will have to cut out some limbs we do not wish to, and the fruit will still be left in 

 bunches. 



GATHERING. 



Apples should always be gathered by hand. Never, under any circumstances, 

 shake them off or knock with a pole, unless you want them to make cider or feed 

 to the hogs. All apples should be picked from the trees before they get mellow. 

 Yellow-skinned varieties, such as Maiden's Blush, Porter, Grimes' Golden, Hunts- 

 man and others, should be gathered before they are fully ripe, and put away in a 

 dark place; they will color up beautiful like a pear, and always bring a fancy price. 



Apples should be gathered from a step-ladder as far as they can be reached ; 

 in the tops of large trees use a light common ladder; this can be made from 2X4 

 pine scantling. For picking, a strong basket holding about one-fourth bushel 

 should be used ; make a hook out of the large sized wire, such as is used for clothes 

 lines, in the shape of the letter S ; hook one end oa the handle of the basket and 

 the other on a limb, and go to work with both hands. 



PACKING . 



Winter apples should be assorted when picked from the trees. A very con- 

 venient way is to have low tables made out of light material; these tables should 

 have a six-inch board around the edges, and made to hold about two barrels of 

 apples. When the fruit i3 brought from the tree, empty it gently on the tables, 

 and the work of assorting may commence. First pick out the very choicest fruit 

 «,nd place in barrels; then select the second best and place in barrels; what is left 

 may be manufactured into cider or vinegar, or fed to stock. If the apples are for 

 immediate shipment, face both top and bottom of barrels with medium sized, well- 

 oolored fruit; don't pick out the largest for this purpose, but let the buyer, when 

 the fruit is opened, see a sample of what he may expect to find all through the 

 barrel. Be sure to mark each package as they are graded, and let them sell on their 

 merits; don't try to make a little good fruit sell a lot of poor stuff; if you do, you 

 Tvill get a poor price for it all. I know it pays to grade and be honest in packing, 

 for I have tried it sufficiently with all kinds of fruits. Large, showy and ftincy 

 apples, if sold at a near-by home market, should be packed in half-bushel baskets ; 

 they will always bring more in this shape than in larger packages. Apples to be 

 kept awhile, or for winter use, should be taken to the cellar or some cool place 

 until freezing weather; then they should be assorted and placed where they can 

 be kept at an even temperature, a little above freezing point, say about 40 degrees 

 Fahrenheit. A perfectly sound apple, if kept at the proper and even temperature, 



