New York AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 259 
9. Rapidity of going down. 
(a) List of those that go down gradually. 
(b) List of those that go down quickly. 
10. Endurance of heat after picking and before going 
into storage. 
(a) List of those enduring heat comparatively well. 
(b) List of those not enduring heat well. 
CONDITIONS AFFECTING KEEPING QUALITY OF APPLES. 
The keeping quality of apples is influenced by many condi- 
tions, among which are the ripeness of the fruit, season, manner 
of picking, packing and handling, kind of storage, presence of 
fungi and temperature at which the fruit is stored. Overgrown 
specimens do not keep so well as those of medium size. Morgan 
remarks that thick-skinned varieties generally keep better than 
thin-skinned ones. 
Keeping quality is often correlated with degree of coloring up 
of the fruit. To keep best, colored apples should be picked only 
after they are well colored but while they are still firm. Accord- 
ing to Wilson, this point is reached when the plump seeds are 
black. But in order to keep longest in cold storage Rhode Island 
Greenings must be picked while they are still very green and hard. 
They will then carry through without any scald until very late 
in the season. But Rhode Island Greenings appear to hold best 
in common storage when they have ripened well on the tree, as 
is Wilson’s experience (see p. 319). According to Howes Rhode 
Island Greenings are in condition for picking for longest holding 
in cold storage when the bloom on the fruit rubs off easily and 
leaves the skin rather shiny. This rule is said to apply less 
markedly to Baldwins and probably to other varieties. 
Methods of harvesting, packing and handling in transporta- 
tion have the greatest influence on keeping quality. Handlers 
of apples sometimes roll barrels of fruit, allowing them to strike 
against other barrels. This rough handling may bruise the fruit 
almost to the midde of the barrel. But some varieties are more 
easily injured by rough handling than are others. Northern Spy 
is one of the easiest to bruise and barrels are often found to go 
down in storage early on this account. Tolman Sweet and 
Yellow Bellflower are other varieties very sensitive to rough 
handing. 
