No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 559 



has been the fault of the fruit grower because it has been the cus- 

 tom to pack the fruit iu barrels; a man comes along and we let 

 him have the fruit at just about what he chooses to give for it, 

 or give the fruit to be sold in the fall when apples are plentiful 

 and bring a low price. I do not say that the commission man 

 does WTong but I say the farmer does wrong in not hunting a mar- 

 ket. There are about eight hundred farmers who ship their fruit 

 to our market, and after it is placed iu storage they watch the 

 market, and when it reaches that stage that they think they can 

 sell for a profit they come to Philadelphia, usually distribute a few 

 barrels to our commission men and those commission men that can 

 get the best price get their fruit, and in that case they sell directly 

 to the commission men. Usually a commission man is satisfied to 

 buy from a good fruit grower if the fruit grower puts his fruit in 

 cold storage because he knows that that man will be more care- 

 ful in packing his fruit, and if he can make ten per cent, on his 

 investment that satisfies him. That is one thing we are trying to 

 do in Philadelphia. We are trying to bring the fruit grower as 

 near the consumer as it is possible to do and the nearer the farmer 

 gets to the consumer the more money there is in the business. 



In considering the best apples to be refrigerated one must not 

 only consider the variety and quality of the apple, but the temper- 

 ature, humidity and care of the fruit after it is placed in cold 

 storage. While we refrigerate fruit from nearly every state in 

 the Union, we believe that each location and climate is adapted to 

 a certain variety of fruit. For instance, an apple which thrives well 

 in ^ew York may not do well in Pennsylvania, or one which is 

 raised in Delaw^ire may not do w^ell in this State; therefore it is 

 best for each individual to ascertain what variety of fruit is best 

 adapted to his locality. On that account it is impossible for me or 

 any other man to tell you because there are a great many apples 

 of different varieties raised in the United States, and, as I say, nearly 

 every state has an apple that is best adapted to that locality, and 

 while we store apples from nearly every state I do not think it 

 would be safe for me to say to you what apple is best for storage 

 any more than it would be safe for me to say to you, you should use 

 oil, or lime and sulphur, for the spraying of your trees, from the fact 

 that you might use both with profit. 



In giving an opinion, and it is only my opinion, after j^ears of 

 close study and observation, the following apples at the present time 

 are some of the best to be considered as they are good keepers, 

 prolific bearers and bring a good price in our market: The Baldwin, 

 the Stayman, Rome Beauty, Nickajack and Winesap. The Bald- 

 win is considered one of the standard American apples and a long 

 keeper. The Stayman is comparatively a new apple, is large, fine 

 flavored, good cooking and table apple, prolific grower, good color, 

 and is one of the highest priced apples in our market. The Rome 

 Beauty is a well shaped apple, even in size, good color, fine eating 

 and cooking apple and good keeper. The Nickajack is a dark 

 red apple, a long keeper, and sells well. The Jonathan apple which 

 is a w^ell colored apple, not very large but of fine flavor, -sold from 

 four to six dollars a barrel up until Christmas. As there are not 

 many orchards of these apples the supply is soon exhausted. 



There is another apple worthy of mention, and which is too little 



