PICKING, PACKING AND MARKETING 



possible storage, excelling the buildings cooled by ice and 

 ammonia, because all the original fine flavor is retained, and 

 the apples do not lose so much from shrinkage. If you have 

 to store in an ordinary cellar, keep the temperature as uniform 

 as possible, at 40 degrees or under, provide plenty of ventilation, 

 remove warm and impure air and let in fresh, cool air. Sewer 

 pipe and chimney material, properly placed, will do this. Let 

 your cold air in at the floor, and drain the other out at the ceil- 

 ing. It is not good for the fruit or the people to store fruit in a 

 cellar under a dwelling. 



A storehouse can be made cheaply by digging partly, or 

 entirely, into a hill, and then putting over a wooden frame a 

 layer of concrete in the form of an arch, six inches through or 

 thicker. The floor should be of concrete. Such a house should 

 be not wider than twenty feet, but may be as long as you require. 

 It does not take a very big space in which to store several 

 thousand bushels. We know of such a house with a capacity 

 of seventy-five hundred bushels, which cost only eleven hun- 

 dred dollars. 



The fall it was built, the owner had four thousand bushels 

 of apples. At picking-time, he was offered eighty-five cents a 

 bushel, and the buyer said this was fifteen cents above the 

 market. None of them knew of the storage-house. Finally the 

 grower took them to it. When they saw this, they immediately 

 offered him a dollar and a quarter for all the apples he had. 

 The difference between these two offers would have paid more 

 than the cost of the house, without using it. So, by storing 

 his apples, this grower realized nearly a dollar and a half for 

 them that year. Such facilities make you independent of 

 current markets. 



The temperature in an underground house can be kept 

 below fifty degrees after the first of October, by taking in cool 

 night air and shutting out warm day air. During November 

 it can be lowered to any degree wanted, and with proper care 

 of the doors and ventilators, the temperature will not vary 

 a half degree all winter. The right temperature at which to 

 best keep various fruits is as follows: Apples 39, Cherries 

 40, Grapes 36, Nuts 35, Oranges 36, Pears, Peaches, Plums, 

 Prunes and Quinces 35, Vegetables 35, Watermelons 35. 



Some growers grade and pack their apples as soon as they 

 are picked, while others store them in bulk, and grade them 

 when they are ready to sell. The plan to use depends on the 

 market. In any case, have plenty of barrels, hampers, baskets 

 or boxes. Use boxes whenever possible. It is safe advice to 

 suggest that you pack in boxes all the apples that are fit for 

 storing, and barrels for only those that go into consumers' hands 

 at once, or for the poorer grades that go to drying and processing 

 houses. Barrels have been the common package in the East, 

 but other packages are fast displacing them. Hampers and 

 bushel baskets are good where the shipping distance is only 

 a couple of hundred miles, particularly for fall apples, and 

 those which are too good for vinegar or apple-butter. The standard 

 barrel for this country is seventeen and one-eighth inches in 



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