274 THE ESSENTIALS OF AGRICULTURE 



will yield reasonably good results in clover sod or even in grass 

 sod. The power of the apple to adapt itself to different degrees 

 of tillage makes it suitable to a great variety of soils and systems 

 of farming. Tilled orchards should have some kind of crop 

 returned to the soil from time to time, to keep up the supply of 

 organic matter. This may be accomplished by cultivation during 

 the early part of the season and then by growing a green crop 

 to turn under the following spring. Some of the crops used 



FIG. 133. Students judging apples 



for this purpose in the North are rye, crimson clover, and buck- 

 wheat, and in the South cowpeas or soy beans. 



358. When to pick fruit. When fruit has been properly 

 grown the problem of its proper use is of the next importance 

 (Fig. 133). Early apples should be picked when their seeds 

 begin to turn brown and before the fruit is mellow. The fruit 

 can be handled with less bruising, and keeps better, if picked 

 before it is mellow. Fall and early-winter apples should be 

 picked as soon as they are fairly well colored. If, on account 

 of hot weather in early autumn, they begin to drop badly before 



