HOUSES FOR STORING APPLES 205 



GATHERING AND STORING APPLES 



The disposition in this State, as elsewhere, is to allow the fruit 

 to hang too long upon the tree before gathering. It was long ago 

 demonstrated that an apple for long-keeping must be picked a little 

 in advance of full maturity. As late fall weather in California is so 

 delightful, there is more temptation to delay the picking than where 

 the approach of winter admonishes the grower to get his fruit under 

 cover. Picking apples for shipment should be done just when the 

 seeds begin to blacken and when the fruit yields to pressure. If 

 left on until fully ripe, and the seeds all black, the fruit is apt not 

 to keep well. This rule applies to fall apples for shipment to dis- 

 tant markets, or for apples to be stored at home. But this is a rule 

 with exceptions. A. W. Tate of Watsonville does not pick Arkansas 

 Black Twigs until the latter part of November, when they are well 

 sugared but firm and matured a nice color and very desirable for 

 the holiday trade. The King is often picked too early before it 

 has the color or size it ought to have. Apples are picked early to 

 escape the drop, but in the Watsonville district canners and driers 

 pay good prices for sound windfalls, and the late picked apples sell 

 at a good price. 



An Apple Storage House. Mr. C. H. King of Sonoma County 

 has a storage house with a capacity of 7,500 boxes or more. The 

 building is 40x60 feet, has no refrigerating equipment, but is kept 

 cool by night ventilation. The floor and sides are of sawdust held 

 in place by board sheeting inside and out, 8 inches apart. The ceil- 

 ing has two layers of sheeting and 14 inches of sawdust, above 

 which is six feet of air space, then the regular gabled roof. The air 

 space helps shield the ceiling from the heat on the roof. 



Along the peak of the roof is a low, open, continuous cupola. On 

 each of two sides are seven doors about two feet square, built like 

 the sides ,and located just above the level of the floor. At night 

 these are opened. A wire screen on each prevents exit or entrance 

 of any codling moths or rodents. At the end of the season, the 

 house is closed tight and sulphur burned to kill any insects which 

 may be carrying over. 



The fruit is stacked in trays 22 inches square and 3 inches deep. 

 Their bottoms are of eight laths, so spaced that apples rest squarely 

 on them. One lath on each side leaves plenty of chance for ventila- 

 tion. 



Trays are stacked 30 deep in piles so there is an aisle from each 

 door to the one on the other side of the house. A gentle draft of 

 cold air flows in at night while the warmer air flows up through the 

 cupola. Some Wageners and Yellow Newtowns have been success- 

 fully held until April 15 with less than two per cent of loss by decay. 



A rather more open house is used in the coast region of Southern 

 California, by Mr. T. W. Ward, of Carpinteria : 



It is a slat house made of strips 1x2^ inches, put on one inch apart. The 

 roof is similarly constructed. There are two passages, on either side of 

 which are two shelves, one above the other, i. e., eight in all. The shelves 

 are made of slats placed one-half inch apart, with sides a food high. The 



