260 State Horticultural Society. 



wares in the top of the barrel. It is no easier to be honest packing 

 apples than packing pork — and there is no governmental inspection 

 of apple packing. Occasionally the grower will pick and pack his 

 own apples and ship them direct to market or store them for ship- 

 ment at some more convenient season. This — and the handling of 

 apples by the buyer or wholesale fruit dealer — has brought about a 

 development of the cold storage business in the last years. There 

 are cold storage concerns at St. Louis, Kansas City, St. Joseph, 

 Springfield, Joplin, Sedalia, Mex^lco, Chillicothe, Columbia, Mary- 

 ville and many of the smaller towns of the State. A million bar- 

 rels of apples could be stored in these concerns. Five years ago 

 the cold storage of Missouri apples was entirely confined to St. 

 Louis, Kansas City and St. Joseph. It is now spreading to every 

 small town in the apple region. 



SEASON EMBRACES WHOLE YEAR. 



The orcharding season covers the entire year, for there is 

 scarcely a week that the trees or the crop cannot be with profit 

 looked after. Just now it is the time of the apple harvest. The 

 earlier varieties, the Maiden's Blush, which tastes as good as its 

 name, the Wealthy and the Rambo, com.e in August. Later comes 

 the winter apples, the juicy Jonathan and the Ben Davis, best seller 

 of all, but aptly compared to sunshine and sawdust. The packing 

 season lasts in Missouri from September 15 to November 1. Prob- 

 ably 200,000 laborers, in all occupations, are concerned in the 

 growing and harvesting of the Missouri apple crop. It is an at- 

 tractive business, far out of proportion to the commercial value. 

 Everybody wants to own an orchard. 



The cultivation of the apple, as its consumption, helps to physi- 

 cal health. The apple promotes digestion. Napoleon lost the bat- 

 tle of Leipsig because he had a stomach-ache — not from eating 

 green apples, either. The gastric juice plays larger part in the 

 destinies of empires than the Krag-Jorgensen rifle. It was Hip- 

 pocrates who said that all men were created with equal capacity, 

 but it was that which they ate that made their mental differences. 

 If this be true, one familiar with Missouri orchards would recofti- 

 mend the feeding to all men of at least two varieties of apples 

 daily. He would prescribe the Jonathan to give the juice of human 

 kindness, and with it the Ben Davis to make him keep well in any 

 climate and to present a good appearance after being out all night. 



There has never been an apple trust. Combinations have af- 

 fected the buying and selling of many products, but the apple is not 



