202 HORTICULTURE, FORESTRY, FLORICULTURE 



ing quality of apples is influenced by many conditions, among 

 which are the ripeness of the fruit, season, manner of picking, pack- 

 ing and handling, kind of storage, presence of fungi and tempera- 

 ture at which the fruit is stored. Overgrown specimens do not keep 

 so well as those of medium size. Thick-skinned varieties generally 

 keep better than thin-skinned ones. Keeping quality is often cor- 

 related with degree of coloring up of the fruit. To keep best, 

 colored apples should be picked only after they are well colored but 

 while they are still firm. This point is reached when the plump 

 seeds are black. But in order to keep longest in cold storage Rhode 

 Island Greenings must be picked while they are still very green and 

 hard. They will then carry through without any scald until very 

 late in the season. But Rhode Island Greenings appear to hold best 

 in common storage when they have ripened well on the tree. Rhode 

 Island Greenings are in condition for picking for longest holding in 

 cold storage when the bloom on the fruit rubs off easily and leaves 

 the skin rather shiny. This rule is said to apply less markedly 

 to Baldwins and probably to other varieties. 



Methods of harvesting, packing and handling in transporta- 

 tion have the greatest influence on keeping quality. Handlers of 

 apples sometimes roll barrels of fruit, allowing them to strike against 

 other barrels. This rough handling may bruise the fruit almost 

 to the middle of the barrel. But some varieties are more easily 

 injured by rough handling than are others. Northern Spy is one 

 of the easiest to bruise and barrels are often found to spoil in storage 

 early on this account. Tolman Sweet and Yellow Bellflower are 

 other varieties very sensitive to rough handling. 



Storage men emphasize and reiterate the point that cold storage 

 can only be successful when fruit is handled very carefully more 

 carefully than fruit is now often handled. At the same time it is 

 important that only No. 1 fruit be stored. Not only is there little 

 profit in storing No. 2 fruit but when it goes on the market it 

 hurts the sale of No. 1 fruit. 



Certain differences in the management which the trees receive 

 result in corresponding differences in the keeping quality of the 

 fruit. For example, apples grown in sod attain to a higner color 

 and keep longer than those grown under clean culture. The soil 

 on which the tree grows makes a difference with the keeping quality 

 of the fruit. Baldwins grown on sandy or gravelly soil ripen earlier 

 and must be picked earlier and do not keep so well as those on clay 

 soils, although they have a higher color. 



The presence of fungi is liable to shorten the life of fruit. 

 Fameuse and many other varieties when affected by scab keep very 

 poorly in storage. Fruit affected by certain other fungi keeps well 

 until it reaches a certain stage of ripeness and then goes down 

 quickly. If Baldwins are very badly affected by fungus, they hold 

 longest in cold storage if picked quite green. Fruit affected with 

 fungus keeps best in a cold dry atmosphere. 



But except for retarding the development of fungus, apples 

 keep best with considerable moisture in the air. Such is the opinion 



