23 



when fully mature, but before they have commenced to mellow. Winter 

 varieties should hang on the tree until they have reached full size and have 

 taken on good color. Apples picked while still immature as a rule keep 

 longer than if allowed to fully ripen on the tree, but they do not develop 

 the full color nor the best quality. No sharp distinction can be made 

 between green and mature, or between fully mature and over ripe fruit ; 

 one blends imperceptibly into the other. Experience teaches at what 

 stage to harvest the crop, in order to secure the highest quality and best 

 keeping properties in the fruit. Sometimes, with summer varieties, it 

 is necessary to go over a tree twice, picking the most mature specimens 

 first and leaving the remainder for a week or two in order that it may 

 more perfectly develop. Round bottom baskets or pails should be used 

 for picking, and it is better to have them lined with cloth to prevent 

 bruising the fruit. Fruit should not be piled on the ground, but should 

 be placed at once on the sorting table or be placed in boxes or 

 barrels for removal to the packing house. The apple should 



be picked with the stem on but without breaking off the fruit spur, as 

 is likely to occur if the fruit is picked too green. Spring waggons 

 should be used to convey the fruit to and from the packing house. 



When the trees have been properly pruned the fruit may all be har- 

 vested from ladders. A short step ladder is convenient for the under- 

 side and low branches of the tree. For the upper branches light cedar 

 ladders of suitable length will be found very convenient. Extension 

 ladders have been praised very highly in the past, but as they are both 

 awkward and cumbersome, practical growers are abandoning them. The 

 practice of climbing through the tree to gather the fruit, and letting the 

 baskets down to the ground by means of a rope, is out of date, and is 

 not practised in commercial orchards. Inexperienced pickers often lose 

 a great deal of time by not picking clean as they go, making it neces- 

 sary to carry the ladder back and forth. Each time the ladder is moved 

 all apples in reach should be picked. 



Packages. 



A great deal of discussion has taken place during the past few years 

 as to the best style and most suitable size of package. This depends 

 somewhat upon the quality of the fruit and the requirements of the mar- 

 ket. For summer varieties for local trade the ordinary eleven quart 

 Climax basket is still the most popular package. For the export trade 

 of XXX apples some prefer the box and others the barrel, depending on 

 the market to be supplied and the relative cost of the two packages. 

 Apples, other than early varieties intended for local markets, can usually 

 be handled most cheaply in barrels. 



The adoption of a standard size of box and barrel will have a ten- 

 dency to establish confidence on the part of the buyer, and will eventually 

 help the apple trade. The Standard barrel is defined in the Dominion 

 Statute entitled Staple Commodities, I. Edward VII., Chap. 26, sec. 4: 



