126 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



I might be misunderstood from what I said, and some might get the 

 idea that I was getting cold feet on apples, but that is not so. The 

 right man in the right place is all right yet. 



About the keeping of apples, we have cold storage. We can keep them 

 in open crates, or anyway, without fear of shrinkage, because the ice 

 keeps the room pretty damp. We spray the room with copper sulphate 

 to keep the mold down. When you store them in chemical storage, you 

 must have tight packages. The Baldwins and Greenings will be wilted 

 if stored in open crates. This letting air to fruit may be all right for 

 keeping purposes, but it will not be right when you consider the sala- 

 bility of the apples. My idea is to keep the apples in a fresh condi- 

 tion, and to do so, it should be kept in ice storage, as we have, where 

 it is damp — keep in closed packages, and cool enough to keep from 

 molding or spoiling. 



A Member — Is it necessary to have a cold storage? Would not a 

 dry frost-proof room be fit? 



Mr. Wilde — That would depend on the amount of money that you 

 put in and where you were located. If it is away from the large towns, 

 it would not pay to put the necessary expense necessary for an ice 

 storage, when you can make a common cold air storage so much cheaper, 

 which would accomplish the same results, especially if you were further 

 north. Many people up there keep their apples to the very best ad- 

 vantage. My storage cost me $6,000 at first and then $500 now and 

 then for repairs. It is like an ice house, it rots. It is hard work to 

 keep it from rotting. I close the door during the day time and open at 

 night. If your apples are free from scab and worms you can keep them 

 the winter through, but if they have scab you can not keep them af 

 all after the spring. You must have the right stock, and then there 

 will be no trouble about the keeping qualities. Here in Grand Rapids 

 a couple of weeks ago apples were brought out of the cold storage 

 which have kept all winter in my place and all summer in a neighbors, 

 but they were perfectly free from scab. 



A Member — What do you think of storing apples in a basement in 

 bushel baskets? We have done this to some extent and put the baskets 

 four tiers high. We don't put any covers on top but cover them with 

 1 taper and then we have a board over the top of the baskets. And 

 then we have a good degree of air circulating in the basement. We 

 have nothing but apples in that basement. Just how long we could 

 store these apples, and have them keep in good shape, I could not 

 say. If they were put in Avithout being bruised, and in perfectly good 

 shape, 1 think they could be kept for a long time. 



Mr. Wilde. That is not a hard proposition. I would say by all meane 

 get smooth crates with narrow cracks and use them preferably to any- 

 thing else. These you can pile reasonably high as you cannot do with 

 baskets. 



