12 FRUIT-GROWER, ST. JOSEPH, MO. 



oughly ripe and well colored, but not overripe. Such 

 varieties as are subject to scald should be given spe- 

 cial attention in this respect, as it is found that the 

 scald is worse on apples picked before maturity. 

 Thoroughly ripe apples, well colored, are not nearly 

 so much subject to scald as are green, uncolored 

 specimens. 



The importance of having the fruit nicely colored 

 and rip-ened when picked is so great that many of 

 the best growers who make a specialty of fancy 

 grades have adopted the practice of picking the 

 apple trees over two, three, or 'even four times. At 

 each picking they take off such fruit as is ripe, well 

 colored, and up to size. The rest of the apples are 

 allowed to hang, and it is found that they will 

 increase greatly in size toward the end of the season 

 and will color up and otherwise improve long after 

 the first lot would have fallen to the ground. Of 

 course this method of picking over the trees several 

 times would be too expensive with cheap fruit and 

 with all poorer grades of apples. It is strongly rec- 

 ommended, however, for early varieties and fancy 

 grades. 



There have been all sorts of mechanical pickers 

 advertised, but none of them has ever become pop- 

 ular. They are of two kinds. The first kind is in- 

 tended to pick a single apple at a time out of the 

 higher branches, and consists of some sort of a 

 pocket hung on the end of a long pole. These con- 

 trivances are too slow and cumbersome for any com- 

 mercial work. The second style of apple picker 

 presents some modification of the old practice of 

 shaking apples off the trees. It furnishes some kind 

 of a spread held under the branches, upon which the 

 apples are shaken down. While this method is 

 cheap enough to make it commercially available, it 

 is too rough for the exacting demands of present-day 



