38(3 BOARD OF AGKICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



HARVESTING AND MARKETING APPLES. 



BY F. A. "WAUGH, PROFESSOR OF HORTICULTURE, MASSACHUSETTS 

 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 



The apple tree is peculiarly at home in Massachusetts and 

 New York State. Northward the severe winters make the 

 growing of many varieties precarious, while southward the 

 trees are less and less thrifty, until in the extreme southern 

 States apples are almost as rare as oranges are with us. 



The commercial importance of the apple crop in Massa- 

 chusetts is increasing rapidly from year to year. In general, 

 we are seeing more clearly that the more refined lines of 

 agriculture are the ones in which ^ve reap the greatest suc- 

 cess ; and amongst these fancier crops, requiring more in- 

 tensive culture, the apple takes high rank. 



It must be said that the methods of handling the apple 

 crop have been very much changed in recent years. The 

 farmers who still adhere to the old-fashioned way of doing 

 things do not find great encouragement in selling apples ; 

 on the other hand, those who have taken up with modern 

 ideas, or, better still, have led in the establishment of modern 

 practices, are reaping their just and generous reward. 



Picking the Fruit. 

 The time was when the apples used to be shaken oS the 

 trees ; a still lazier method was to allow them to fall ofl". 

 Such apples are fit only for second-class cider, and if that 

 was the market to which they were destined, no great damage 

 was done. However, such apples are still sometimes offered 

 in the markets. They are almost always a dead loss to the 

 man who attempts to sell them, and interfere, sometimes 



