The Canadian Horticulturist. . 321 



APPLE GATHERERS. 



NOTICE the apple gatherer illustrated in the Rural New Yorker o 

 September ist, with "patent applied for." In 1876, we had a large 

 lot of apples to gather on our fruit farm near Cynthiana, Ky. The 

 apples were fine, the price low and the help scarce. So we, from 

 necessity, had to draw on our wits for help. On the place was a lo'V- 

 wheeled feed wagon with a bed 18 feet long, very wide, with sides 

 flaring out. On this we constructed a light, strong frame with top 

 rails 18 feet long, nine feet wide, and when on the wagon, about five feet high. 

 We made a strong canvas cover and tucked it securely all around on the top 

 rail, cut a slit in the centre the long way, except about two feet at each end, 

 bound a twine on this edge, and about every three feet tied the two edges 

 together with a bit of twine. One man at each end could set the frame, canvas 

 and all, on the wagon or off on a set of trestles. 



With this equipage, one man drove a strong, gentle team along the rows on 

 one side, stopping as close as possible to the tree ; a boy in the tree shook half 

 the apples into the canvas, and of course they ran to the centre and through the 

 slits into the wagon bed. The man meanwhile picked a few from the lower 

 limbs, picked up some good ones that fell overboard, while another boy stretched 

 out his limbs, helped a little, and scrambled into the next tree in time for the 

 on-coming wagon. The wagon was driven up one side of the row and back on 

 the other side, with the result that one man and two boys gathered four loads of 

 50 bushels each per day, hauling them a quarter of a mile, sorted them and put 

 them away, part for keeping and part for the cider mill. I never saw apples 

 come in in better condition, or keep better. We used that device for a number 

 of years, and hundred of persons saw us at work with it. 



About ten years ago we let our wagon go down, but bought at Cincinnati 

 for $18 a circus tent about thirty feet in diameter. We used the body of the 

 tent to patch a tarred roof on a tobacco barn, but inverted the top, 

 cut it from the center to the circumference on one side, fixed a twine 

 on each side at the centre and circumference, and tied the centre around the 

 tree. We cut poles about eight feet long, and sharpened them at one end, so 

 that the point would hold in the eyelet holes around the circumference, tied a 

 small rope in the same eyelet, drew it back in a direct line over the pole from 

 the tree and fastened it by a large spike driven in the ground. We cut a few 

 slits two feet from the tree but outside of the circling rope, shook the apples, 

 and found them in a pile ready for assorting and in fine condition. — J. A. 

 McKek, in Rural New Yorker. 



SEEDLING PLUM. 



Messrs. Allan Bros., of Winona, Ont., sent us, on the 8th of August, a 

 new seedling plum, just about in season for use. The color is green, and the 

 quality excellent. Should the plum prove valuable, it will be more fully described. 



