HA IV DUNG EARLY A PPLES. 



297 



Ready For Nailing— No. 2. 



This shows the pressure being applied and the bar or handle 

 being held in position by being caught in a tooth of the iron rod 

 standing up from the end of the stand. The cover is ready to be 

 nailed on. Notice the manner in which the box is stamped. 

 (These photographs are printed through the courtesy of Mr. Alex. 

 McNeill, Chief of the Dominion Fruit Division.) 



checks transpiration, isolates specimens in 

 which rot or scab may appear, and has suf- 

 ficient influence over the fruit to amply re- 

 pay for the trouble of wrapping. Where 

 large quantities are stored, however, such a 

 practice would be out of the question. 



THE HANDLING OF FRUIT. 



Careful handling before storing is the 

 most important phase of the industry. No 

 matter how perfect an apple may be on the 

 parent tree, a slight bruise given when hand- 

 ling and magnified during its storage period 

 very greatly lessens its value when removed 

 from storage. Experiments conducted 

 with Duchess and Tetofski showed clearly 

 the benefit of careful handling. It must be 

 remembered that the low temperature of a 

 storage exerts no " mysterious influence " 

 over fruit. It cannot heal bruised apples 

 nor remove scab or rot. It can, however, 

 check the spread of a disease, or also, the 

 injury caused by a bruise, but these influ- 

 ences are rather over-estimated. If the 

 apple is to leave the storage and reach the 

 consumer in perfect condition it must neces- 

 sarily enter it in that condition. 



The importance of storing as soon as the 



fruit is picked cannot be too strongly em- 

 phasized. It is a very common practice 

 among growers to allow the fruit to remain 

 in " pits " or piles in the orchard, previous 

 to storing it. An experiment was sug- 

 gested by just such a case. The owner of 

 the apples in question claimed that this de- 

 lav exerted a considerable influence over 

 the ultimate keeping qualities of the apples. 

 It is easily shown that an apple picked when 

 almost ripe, will, if allowed to remain tmder 

 ordinary conditions, ripen much more 

 rapidly than if it were allowed to remain on 

 die tree. The effect of severing it greatly 

 accelerates the speed of the changes in- 

 volved in the maturing process. This be- 

 ing so, the ill effects of piling apples in the 

 orchard are very apparent and an easy ex- 

 planation is afforded for the behavior of the 

 fruit in the experiment. Not only did the 

 fruit ripen more rapidly, but its maturing 

 was still further quickened by the heat of 

 the ground and by any heat and moisture 

 developed in the pile. Immediate storage 

 after picking is one of the essentials to suc- 

 cessful fruit storage. 



COMMERCIAL VALUE. 



The value of storing early apples for 

 commercial purposes is a most important 

 question. Experiments made indicate that 

 the practice of holding over such an apple 

 as the Duchess for comparatively long 

 periods would be a risky procedure. Such 

 an apple cannot be stored for a much longer 

 period than a month or a month and a half, 

 leaving a reasonable length of time for dis- 

 posal after removal. The real virtue of the 

 early apple is that it is early. It has no 

 other outstanding points of superiority over 

 the fall varieties, and would stand but a 

 poor chance if brought upon the market in 

 competition with them. 



A long storage may not be advisable, but 

 great benefit may be derived from one of 

 shorter duration, especially where the fruit 

 is to be disposed of on local markets. Tn 



