PACKING AND MARKETING FRUITS 11 



the Canadian crop, especially the Nova Scotia apple 

 crop. 



Every man must make his own choice between 

 these various methods of selling. It is not possible to 

 say that one method is better or worse than another. 

 The greater a man's knowledge of the fruit trade and 

 the larger his financial resources the longer he can 

 afford to hold control of his own fruit. If he knows 

 nothing about the business and is obliged to have 

 some money right off to buy chewing tobacco or pay 

 his taxes, it is probably better for him to sell the 

 fruit on the trees or on the ground. 



Picking Apples 



It is a delicate question to determine just when 

 apples ought to be- picked. There are some reasons 

 why it is desirable to pick as early as possible. Early 

 picking reduces the danger from wind storms and 

 saves considerable loss from windfalls under all cir- 

 cumstances. On the other hand, apples color up best 

 when they are left comparatively long on the trees. 

 Many varieties do not color thoroughly until after 

 the leaves thin out considerably. Some varieties can 

 be left to advantage long after the first frost. This 

 depends a good deal, of course, on the variety itself 

 and its habit of holding onto the tree. Northern Spy 

 and Ben Davis hold on extremely late, while Wealthy 

 and Wagener are apt to fall as soon as they are ripe, 

 or even before. 



If apples are to be sent to storage another factor 

 comes into consideration in determining the proper 

 time for picking. It used to be thought that apples 

 should be picked before they were mature in order 

 to have them hold well in cold storage. The extens- 

 ive experiments of the Department of Agriculture in 

 recent years have shown that this idea is wrong. 

 Nearly all varieties stand cold storage best if thor- 



