PICKING AND STORING OF APPLES 201 



Mr. H. G. Keesling of Edenvale, Santa Clara County, gives a 

 sketch of his way of handling apples on a small scale: In picking 

 apples we insist on just as careful handling as in picking other fruits, 

 and we find that the picking pail made of tin or light galvanized 

 iron, holding about twelve quarts, or nearly twenty pounds of apples, 

 is the best vessel to pick in, and we use them right through the season 

 for cherries, apricots, peaches and even prunes. A pail of this size is 

 not too heavy to handle even on high ladders, and it carries the fruit 

 without bruising. Our plan is to pick and sort into boxes in the 

 orchard. If a number of pickers are at work, then one or more men 

 will do the sorting. As each picker fills his pail, he carries it a short 

 distance to the sorting station, taking an empty one and returning to 

 his work. The apples are sorted out of the pails and very carefully 

 examined. The perfect apples go into one box, second into another 

 and culls into another. They are then loaded onto a truck or wagon 

 with springs and hauled to the house. A good sorter will keep pails 

 empty for several pickers, all of course depending on the crop, size of 

 apples, etc. I put my winter apples in redwood boxes, which, when 

 piled one on top of another, five or six high and close together and 

 covered with canvas or muslin, are in a condition to keep their flavor 

 and juiciness a long time. Storing apples in boxes saves a lot of work 

 in handling if they are to be examined or sorted during the winter. 



Nearly all the ways of keeping winter apples have been tried in 

 California. The main difficulty in keeping apples in good condition 

 during the dry months of the autumn is the loss of moisture from the 

 fruit by evaporation. This causes shriveling and operates against long 

 keeping. It has been found by experience that apples keep perfectly 

 until late in the spring by piling under the trees and covering with 

 leaves, etc., allowing the rains to fall upon them. When dry north 

 winds blow, the fruit should be sprinkled occasionally. They come out 

 from the cover fresh, smooth, and plump, and for family use such 

 rough storage will often answer a good purpose. For commercial stor- 

 age, even on a small scale, however, good fruithouses are used. The 

 requisites of such houses are an evenly cool temperature, moist air, and 

 good ventilation, the fruit being open to free access of the air. In the 

 mountains where stone is abundant excellent apple houses are made of 

 it, which resist temperature changes notably. 



Mr. Edward Berwick, of Monterey, apple grower of experience in 

 the coast region, handles his fruit in this way : 



The apples are carefully handpicked into baskets and at once transferred to 

 ordinary apple boxes just put in loose, not packed tight as for shipping. These 

 boxes are hauled to the fruit houses with as little jar as possible. 



This fruit house is built of rough boards (fastened on a heavy frame) with 

 inch-thick battens covering the cracks, and rustic-nailed outside the battens, thus 

 leaving an inch air-space between the boards and the rustic. It is of two stories 

 the upper devoted to tools and stores, the lower used for fruit, and arranged 

 with shelves accordingly. This lower story has only an earthen floor. One object 

 of this is to > give no lodgment for rats or mice, the other is to serve as a 

 means of maintaining a cool, damp atmosphere. To this end it is kept well 

 watered in apple-keeping season ; and, to avoid mildew or mold, it is also liberally 

 sprinkled with ground sulphur. By day, doors and windows are mostly kept shut, 

 by night open; this, of course, is to exclude the heat and allow free circulation 

 of the cool night air. 



