18 Second Annual Report 



They manufacture boxes for all other goods and classes of prod- 

 uce, and now they are making them for apples. I wish you 

 would examine these boxes very closely, and consider in this 

 meeting whether there is any profit in boxes over barrels. If 

 the apples go in barrels to the market, sometimes they are badly 

 jammed, and the fruit must sell low; if they gO' there in a firm 

 condition, smooth and clean and nice, they bring a good price, 

 and cost no more than those roughly handled. So be careful 

 that the men who handle your apples handle them carefully as 

 possible. As to the time of harvesting, that depends entirely 

 upon your immediate circumstances and the size of your orchard, 

 etc. 



Storage. Storing of late fall and winter apples. We would 

 not think today of keeping a dairy of 30 or 40 nice dairy cows, 

 Jerseys, or something else, without a good barn to keep them in. 

 We would not think of running that dairy without proper dairy 

 utensils to make their product just as fine as possibly can be done ; 

 yet there are very few farmers in the State of Vermont who have 

 a storage suitable for their apples. They may have 25 or 30 

 nice dairy cows ; they are making fancy butter and getting fancy 

 prices, and yet they have 100 or 200 apple trees and are not 

 getting any profit at all from them. 



About the buyers: If they pay enough, sell to them, but 

 beware of the buyer from New York who has lots of cheek, a 

 suit of flashy clothes, a big watch chain, and an eye that will 

 look right through any Vermont farmer and tell what kind of 

 apples are behind the barn. Remember that if you have a store- 

 house out there, and you take him there, just tell him you 

 have plenty of good room to store your apples unless he will give 

 you the right price ; then ask him a reasonable price, no dallying, 

 and don't tell him how hard it is for you to dispose of them ; if 

 he buys and pays you then all right, otherwise hold them. 



There are quite a good many points along this line. What 

 will I do with them? If you use barrels, put them into barrels; 

 don't put in the cider apples if you can help it; if you have 

 pickers that you can depend on, let them throw the cider apples 

 on the ground, and the good ones in the barrels. It does away 

 with an extra handling of the fruit if you can assort as you 

 pick. After they are picked don't put them under a shed or 

 a tree ; put them at once into your storehouse and keep them there 

 until you want to use them, whether it is two days or six months, 

 and then grade them as circumstances may require ; suit your 

 own feelings ; empty one barrel and put your apples right back 

 into it; if in crates, do the same. If you have no barrels put 

 them into bins. I had 300 barrels of Northern Spies that I put 

 jti one large bin^ 30 ft. long by 6 ft. high, I thought the bottom 



