PREFACE. 



Apple culture has attained such proportions in the United States 

 that the harvesting' and disposition of the crop have become matters 

 of national importance. A general failure of the crop of winter apples 

 in any season results in serious disturbance of commercial conditions 

 in many important agricultural regions and involves heav} r losses to 

 mercantile and transportation interests, as well as to the growers. At 

 the same time it inflicts a serious hardship upon consumers by depriv- 

 ing them of this the most useful fruit in their household economy. 



Next to crop failure and the control of injurious diseases and insects, 

 the most important feature of commercial apple growing at the present 

 time is undoubtedly the preservation of the crop for a sufficient time 

 to permit its distribution to consumers in sound and wholesome con- 

 dition, in both home and foreign markets, throughout the winter sea- 

 son. This feature has become very prominent since apple orcharding- 

 has developed on a large scale in the middle and more southern States, 

 where the climatic conditions at the time of the apple harvest are fre- 

 quently unfavorable to long durability of fruit. Under the deteriorat- 

 ing influence of warm weather during September and October a large 

 part of the crop frequently reaches full ripeness and is thrown upon 

 the market in perishable condition before midwinter. This results in 

 disastrous gluts and ruinously low prices for a time, followed by 

 scarcity of fruit and abnormally high prices to the consumer in the 

 late winter and early spring. 



The successful keeping of apples on a large scale in refrigerated 

 storage, which began about 1890, was welcomed by growers and deal- 

 ers as a solution of the problem, and the practice of storing in this 

 wa}^ has since developed to very large proportions. Experience has 

 demonstrated, however, that in many instances fruit stored in such 

 houses in the fall has failed to come out in good condition in the late 

 winter or spring, to the serious loss of the owner. It has long been 

 observed also that different lots of fruit in the same storao-o room 

 behave differently, some keeping in excellent condition, while others 

 spoil. A browning of the skin of the apple while in storage or shortly 

 after removal therefrom, generally known as "scald," also frequently 

 lessens the beauty of the fruit and therefore its selling value, even 

 when its food value is but little impaired. 



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