288 THE APPLE CULTURI8T. 



Fig. lie. about the right 



size. A piece of 

 wire about thirty- 

 two inches long 

 will be required. 



Acheapfruit-plucker. Insert the ends 



in one end of a 



broom-handle, and then sew a little sack to the wire, large 

 enough to hold about eight apples. The wire should be 

 bent large enough to receive a man's hand into the sack. 

 A blacksmith will fit one to a handle in four or five minutes ; 

 and, if a man has a pair of pliers, he can bend the wire to 

 suit himself, after heating it in the stove. With one of this 

 kind of fruit-pluckers, having a light handle eight or ten 

 feet long, a man can pluck fruit rapidly while standing on 

 the ground. When a person is in the tree-top, he should 

 be provided with two or more pluckers, having handles of 

 different lengths. Such fruit-pluckers are designed only for 

 gathering such fruit as can not be reached with the hands. 

 It will be understood that the fruit is pulled off by the nar- 

 row loop-end of the plucker. 



Drying and seasoning Winter Apples. As soon as the 

 apples are plucked, they should be laid carefully in a cool, 

 airy, and dry place, until there is danger that they will be 

 injured by cold weather. A close apartment, which can not 

 be ventilated sufficiently to carry away all moisture from 

 the fruit, is an improper place for keeping winter apples 

 during that period of autumn just before cold and freezing 

 weather. If an apartment is so close that moisture will 

 condense on the window-glass, it is a certain indication that 

 the ventilation is quite insufficient for the requirements of 

 the fruit. The best place for seasoning winter apples be- 

 fore cold weather is on a floor a few feet above the ground, 

 and beneath a good roof, .to carry off the storms, and with 



