228 ANNUAL REPORT 



trees till near the time cold weather begins, unless the fall should 

 be late, then kept in a cool place other than the cellar until there 

 is danger from freezing. The greatest of care should be use I in 

 picking. I find girls or women, where they can reach the fruit, 

 handle it more carefully than men or boys. Step-ladders and saw- 

 horses are best for picking from young trees, as by that means you 

 avoid stepping and standing on the limbs, and more especially the 

 crotches, which of all places in the tree should be preserved in 

 this climate. Make step-ladders light and saw-horses three feet 

 high, with top two by six, for standing on, and two steps on the 

 side for low limbs, using a wire hook attached to a short pole to 

 draw limbs so you can reach them. For older, higher trees, use a 

 ladder made by splitting a pole to within two feet of the end, 

 binding the end firmly, then spread the base three feet, putting in 

 rounds to stand on. The single point will rest in the limbs while 

 picking and not injure them. Use a basket holdinar half a bushel, 

 hanging it by means of a hook to a belt, or on the round of the 

 ladder. A sack over the shoulder can be used for hard winter 

 fruit. Pick fruit only when it is dry, and when your fruit is 

 placed in the cellar keep the temperature between thirty and forty, 

 if possible, aiA if you can avoid keeping vegetables in the same 

 cellar^ do so. 



My plan for a fruit cellar is double walls for the outside, double 

 doors for the entrance. The under side of the joists ceiled so as to 

 fill under floor with sawdust, or if you have no floor over it, put 

 on two roofs, one two feet above the other, and fill the space be- 

 tween with straw; ventilate above and you can keep the tempera- 

 ture low by outside air passages made of tile or brick, opening 

 from forty to eighty feet from the building. In this room you 

 will find no difiiculty in keeping fall apples for winter use, which 

 is very convenient, especially for the holiday market, that comes 

 before the best keeping winter apples are ripe. My fruit on exhibi- 

 tion has been kept in a place similar to this, but not fully perfect- 

 ed. The secret, I think, of keeping apples in a cool place, is this: 

 if the temperature is kept low the ripining process goes on very 

 slowly, hence the apples keep very much longer. Another advant- 

 age in a place of this kind is that you need not hurry to dispose of 

 your late fall apples, but hold until the price suits you. For hand- 

 ling apples, a box holding about one bushel can be made as fol- 

 lows; the ends to be inch boards, ten inches wide and eleven 

 inches long, and using laths two feet long for the top, bottom and 

 sides, placing them one inch apart; this makes a very convenient 



