CHAPTER IX 



HARVESTING AND STORING 



APPLES are practically never allowed to 

 ripen on the trees but are picked and 

 shipped green. By " green" we mean 

 not fully ripe, not ripe enough to eat out of 

 hand. This is necessary for all fruit which is 

 to be shipped any considerable distance or which 

 is to be stored. Used in this sense green has 

 no reference to color, but as a matter of fact, 

 much of our fruit is picked too green, before 

 it has even reached its full size and is well 

 colored. There is no exact time at which 

 apples must be picked, but this depends on many 

 factors such as the variety, the distance to be 

 shipped, the soil, the climate, and various other 

 conditions, to say nothing of seasonal differ- 

 ences. 



The time at which any variety should be 

 picked in a particular section will be learned by 

 experience. In general, apples should be left 

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