376 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



ent also. I have come to the conclusion that Wealthys keep best 

 by picking them from the trees after they have colored up well. 

 This will necessitate careful watching and gathering them at fre- 

 quent intervals. The later apples are all picked from the trees just 

 before cold weather. In packing apples for winter I use bush- 

 el boxes and also berry box cases, placing the fruit In layers, with- 

 out wrapping paper around them. The boxes are not placed on 

 the ground but on a shelf two feet above it, the top boxes being 

 covered with paper or covers to keep off the mould which will some- 

 times form towards spring. Never line your boxes with hay, think- 

 ing you are giving the apples a soft bed, for they will surely catch 

 the hay fever before spring. 



Last winter I pitted two bushels of Wealthys outside of the 

 root house, and when I went to uncover them in the spring, all ex- 

 cept one peck were spoiled, and this peck was nothing extra in qual- 

 ity, for they had lost their crispness and flavor and tasted earthy. 



This cellar being in the ground without a board floor and on 

 walls except a clay bank and one foot of earth on the roof, Mother 

 Earth supplies the necessary moisture. The temperature runs from 

 38 to 40 degrees through October and November, with the two 

 doors closed and the six-inch ventilator open. But as the season 

 advances to good, stiff old Minnesota weather, the temperature 

 keeps dropping till it reaches 32 to 36 degrees, but never yet has it 

 gone low enough to injure the fruit. When the weather increases 

 in severity the ventilator should be closed, and when it moderates 

 it should be opened up again. Taken as a whole, this root cellar, 

 though crudely built, is an ideal place for fruit storage and has no 

 expense attached. 



Mr. Busse: At what time do you put them in the root cellar 

 or storage room, at the time of picking or later ? 



Mr. Shuman: So far we have gathered our apples and put 

 them in an outside shed, but in the case of the Wealthy I find they 

 wilt, so that by the time they are put in the cellar they are pretty 

 badly wilted. 



Mr. Busse: When did you put them in the cellar? 



Mr. Shuman : We had in the neighborhood of the cellar a 

 wagon shed, but that warm weather in September created rot and 

 spotted them, and we had them carefully picked — at least I gave 

 them instruction to do so ; but I found after they had been in a 

 week they had spotted so badly we had to repack all of them. I 

 found a press and made some of them into cider. I would like to 

 know whether any one has had experience in placing them in a stor- 



