GATHERING AND MANAGEMENT OF APPLES. 283 



CHAPTER IX. 



GATHERING AND MANAGEMENT OF APPLES. 



With ladders, baskets, and the plucker's suit, 

 Pluck the fair King, fill baskets to the brim : 



Eelieve the bending boughs of luscious fruit : 

 Handle with care, and lay them in the bin. EDWABDB. 



APPLES, as well as apple-trees, possess vitality. There 

 is life within the pulp, and life in the seeds. Let an ap- 

 ple be deprived of its vitality, and the once delicious pulp 

 will become tasteless and unfit for eating. After an ap- 

 ple has been frozen and thawed, its life is gone, and with 

 it every peculiarity of flavor and nutriment that made it 

 pleasant to the taste, and a valuable and important arti- 

 cle of food. It is the life of the apple, therefore, that we 

 aim to preserve and to prolong through the changes of 

 the weather that affect the fruit. Hence all the manage- 

 ment of apples should be predicated on the assumption 

 that careful handling and judicious management tend to 

 prolong the life of the fruit. As violent treatment tends 

 to destroy all animal life, so bruising and rough handling 

 will hasten the decay of fruit. There is no life in a rot- 

 ten apple, except within the seed. 



These suggestions will enable us to understand something 

 of the fundamental requirements for the successful preser- 

 vation of choice apples during the unfavorable periods of 

 alternate heat and cold. Hence, to maintain that condition 

 of soundness which is essential to the value and excellence 

 of apples, every specimen must be taken from the tree by 

 the hand, and laid carefully in a basket. Winter apples 



