20 Second Annual REPORt 



a week until about a month ago when we commenced to ship 

 two a week, and we have had but one car frozen; in that car the 

 Greenings were damaged, so where we were getting $2.75 for 

 them we had to accept $2, but for the red apples we got the same. 

 Of course it was some trouble for the commission man ; he had 

 to take them out and set them aside to allow the frost to come out, 

 and then put them on the market. There is not much risk. We 

 hire a refrigerator car and make arrangements to hold it all 

 through the season, and we keep that car going. As quickly as 

 it comes back we load and re-ship it. We had a car all loaded 

 about 9.30 or 10 o'clock this morning; it will leave at 3 o'clock 

 for Boston and in 36 hours that car will be in the Boston market ; 

 one and a half days. We worked together ; we have no by-laws 

 under which we are organized to tie us down, but we co-operate 

 in shipping, and it works well. One man engages the car; he 

 boards up the ends of the car where the ice is placed ; papers it 

 over, stops up the dripping places where the ice water runs out 

 of the car and sees that the place where the ice is put in is all solid, 

 then we have a tight car; it is never disturbed. We put in a 

 good deal of straw ; at first they used to steal that and also the 

 boards — in fact tlie railroad ordered the car cleaned — but now 

 we have ai;ranged so that the commission man seals the car and 

 it comes back to us undisturbed and ready to reship. I place a 

 lighted oil stove in the car for an hour or so before we put the 

 fruit in, and that makes the car as warm as can be. 



The apple business is the nicest, cleanest, pleasantest business 

 in the world. Yes, of course, if you are careless the apples will 

 freeze on their way to tlie car, but not if they are properly pro- 

 tected. I recollect one shipment that came about 12 or 14 miles. 

 I told the man when I saw them that the apples were frozen, 

 but he insisted they were not ; I knew they weren't half covered 

 up when he arrived, but he stuck to it that they were all right; 

 before he got through unloading I found out that his sleigh had 

 broken down and the barrels were all dumped out in the snow 

 and remained there while he repaired his sleigh, of course they 

 were frozen. It is a perfectly easy matter for a man to place 

 his apples in the car in exactly as good condition as when they 

 left the storage, if he will use a little care and judgment. 



Sometimes we line our barrels with paper. If you use 

 second-hand flour barrels you can clean them pretty well, but 

 it is preferable to line them with paper. I noticed a barrel of 

 apples today that had been in the cellar all winter,,, and just 

 opened, and there was mildew all around the barrel, all coming 

 from the flour barrel, and it gave it a bad appearance; if that 

 barrel had been lined with paper that would have been avoided. 

 Paper saves the wind from passing through the barrel and over 



