MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 339 



maturity at the time of picking will have much to do with keeping 

 -qualities. An apple should be mature but not ripe when it is picked, 

 if it is to keep for any considerable time. The process of ripening is 

 only the first stages of decay, and if this is allowed to continue before 

 picking until the apple is ripe, that is, until it becomes mellow, this 

 breaking down process has proceeded so far that it is very difl&cult to 

 arrest. As soon, therefore, as the stem will separate readly from its 

 union with the branch, the apple is sufficiently mature to keep well. 



In this case of early apples, however, there is another element 

 ■which eaters into the problem, viz: flavor. Fall apples picked very 

 early do not, as a rule, possess that richness of flavor which is devel- 

 oped during the last days of ripening, so that for home use, where the 

 best is none to good, this becomes a very important element, and one 

 that can be preserved only by keeping the fruit in a cool place where 

 the tempture does not reach much above fifty degrees. This brings 

 up the question of cold storage for the farmer and fruit-grower which 

 may be continued in a future article. J. Troop, Indiana. 



Marketing. 



If you have an orchard in bearing and have plenty of apples to 

 sell, then be careful to pick, pack and market them as if the buyer 

 were watching every apple that goes into the barrel. Every barrel 

 should show by opening the top just such apples as it contains, no 

 larger and no smaller. It is a disgrace to our Western fruit grower to 

 fill his barrel with apples unfit to go to market. This year of great 

 abundance of apples will be one when the buyer will be much more 

 particular than ever before. It will be a good object lesson to us, and 

 this year may help us learn how to pack our apples. No apples that 

 are to be kept over winter or used for shipment should be picked from 

 the ground. Every sound apple should be picked from the tree care- 

 fully, and if there are any that are not sound they should be dropped 

 to the ground and picked up with the culls. 



In packing into barrels choose average size, well-colored specimens 

 and place them into the barrels with the stem end down, placing in 

 two layers in the same way. Then fill up with the selected apples, 

 shaking the barrel at the emptying of each half bushel, until the barrel 

 is full even with the top of barrel. If well shaken this should be suf- 

 ficient ; if not, then they should be a little fuller. Press them in with a 

 lever or screw press, and label with your name and address, guarantee- 

 ing the packing, the variety and the quality. You will soon find that 



