DECEMBER 15, 1912 



823 



is a fall api^le. We began eating them in 

 August — I think the last of that month; and 

 while disposing' of our ai323les before going 

 to Florida we had two bushels of beautiful 

 Gravensteins as late as Nov. 1 ; and my 

 second discovery is to tell you how I man- 

 aged to prolong the season of this exceed- 

 ingly luscious apple. When they first be- 

 gan to show signs of rii^ening I picked 

 those that began to show color, and put 

 them in a cool place, as I have explained. 

 Then we kept on picking them in this way. 

 Of course, the five families (each one 

 of our five children has children of their 

 own, one or more), were clamoring for 

 these Gravensteins ; and I suspect that some 

 of them thought "gi'andpa" was getting 

 to be penurious in his old age because he 

 doled them out only soft apples, or those 

 that had just commenced to spoil. In fact, 

 Mrs. Root said, with a little sarcasm, that 

 my great discovery consisted in having only 

 rotten apples to eat all the while, while the 

 common way was to pick out the best and 

 throw away tlie rotten ones. Now, before 

 I had reduced the matter to a "science" per- 

 haps this was somewhat true; but I have 

 just discovered recently that neither the 

 Gravenstein nor any other apple com- 

 mences to decay without showing symptoms, 

 even before a rotten spot is visible. If you 

 sort over the apples you have on hand, say 

 twice a week, and press them gently, you 

 will find that the one that is getting ready 

 to spoil will first become mellow, especially 

 on the spot where the rot starts. After a 

 little practice your fingers will become sen- 

 sitive to these si:)ots, and they will almost 

 automatically pick them out.. Now, use 

 these apples thus picked out, at once, or 

 give them to your neighbors to use. In 

 fact, any apple is at its very best, just be- 

 fore decay becomes visible. You may say 

 this is lots of trouble. But 7 love apples 

 so much that I just enjoy it. When I am 

 tired of my work in the office, the thought 

 of going out in the cool air and into the 

 ai)ple-shed, and "sorting apples," makes 

 me feel like a boy again. 



Now, there is another science in making 

 such work pleasant and handy. Have 

 enough potato-boxes to contain all of your 

 apples. Turn two empty ones upside down. 

 Now set a crate of apjoles on one empty 

 box and an empty crate on the other. Put 

 them side by side, and they are just high 

 enough so an old man like myself can work 

 without stooping over very much. Take 

 two apples in each hand. If small, you 

 can take three in each hand. Lift them 

 from the 'full crate into the empty one. 

 You want to get a strong light and good 



spectacles, and then by the aid of the fin- 

 gers and eyes you can very quickly pick 

 out all the ajDples that are going to spoil, 

 and put them in a little basket near by. 



This year our Northern Spy apples have 

 not kept nearly as well as usual. As they 

 are winter apples I did not go over them 

 at all until they had stood perhaps two or 

 three weeks. To my great surprise, out of 

 six bushels I found almost a whole bushel 

 that had begun to rot more or less. Had 

 I sorted them once a week or twice, as I 

 did the fall apples, nearly all of them 

 could have been saved. It has been urged 

 that an apple partly rotten is unwholesome 

 and unsanitary. That may be true; but a 

 great big nice apple with a fourth or less 

 of it spoiled is, in my opinion, just as 

 wholesome as an apple entirely sound — 

 that is, after you have cut out the bad part; 

 and I ought to know, because I have eaten 

 such apples for the past two or three 

 years, and my health just now, thanks to 

 a kind Providence, is just splendid. Some 

 of you may say you would be very glad to 

 have one meal a day of apples if you could 

 afford it; but, dear friend, I think you are 

 making a mistake. If you have three square 

 meals a day, no matter where you are or 

 how you are fixed, these three meals, count- 

 ing the labor of getting them ready, cost 

 at least ten cents each. Now, ten cents Avill 

 buy a big lot of apples almost anywhere 

 in the United States. In many places just 

 now you can buy a whole peek for a dime; 

 but I think that, as a rule, take it the year 

 round, a nickel will buy as many apples 

 as you want for a meal — especially if you 

 buy them by the peck or bushel. I do not 

 let a single apple spoil, as I have explain- 

 ed. 



By the way, I forgot to mention that 

 this rule I have spoken of will not always 

 tell you about an api^le that has commenc- 

 ed to rot at the core; but now here is an- 

 other trick. Apples that rot at the core 

 generally commence to do so at the stem 

 end; and while you are sorting, put the 

 tip of your fore finger down close to the 

 stem and push it in toward the core. If 

 decay has begun you will find it a little 

 softer at that spot. 



I have not mentioned wormj? apples, be- 

 cause, thanks to science, it is a disgrace to 

 have wormy apples in your orchard or in 

 your apple-cellar. While you are sorting, 

 if you notice any apples showing indica- 

 tions of being wormy, throw them out to be 

 used first. 



There is one other api3le I forgot to men- 

 tion. It is the Paradise Sweet. This, too ^ 

 is puckery and insipid until along in the 



