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DOES IT PAY TC PICK UP DROP APPLES? 



There are several reasons why some grovrers consider it worthwhile to gather 

 up drop apples, even though they do no more than duDip them over the fence. Among 

 the reasons given are (1) gathering up the early season drops before the harvest 

 time simplifies the Job of salvaging the mature drops, (2) the apples are salable 

 at a price and therefore justify the labor involved, (3) the drops may harbor 

 maggot or other pests, and (U) after the clean-up, the orchard floor looks better. 



Last fall many thousands of bushels of usable apples were left to rot on the 

 ground because there seemed to be no market for them. By-products plants 

 didn't want them. More vrere being offered at the roadside than could be sold 

 profitably, and growers vrere unwilling to risk the additional expense of storing 

 drops for a future market. So they were left under the trees instead of investing 

 more money in them, for fear that the additional investment might be lost in a 

 glutted market. In 1950 that procedure probably paid off in some orchards in terms 

 of net profits on the entire crop. 



Suppose we examine the question of drop disposal and ask ourselves whether or 

 not we should pick up every apple every year. The answer is not the same in all 

 orchards. Certainly the sales value of the apples v;hich drop from the tree around 

 harvest time varies tremendously. In one orchard the drops are very largely of 

 Fancy grade except for bruising, and are ideal for immediate use. In another, 

 they are culls, where one could scarcely make a day's pay picking them up and 

 transporting them to a cider mill. And so the condition of the drops is an 

 important factor. Apples on the ground must be better than average to justify any 

 additional investment, unless they harbor insect pests. Then prompt disposal may 

 return good dividends. 



To hire a vrorker at a dollar an hour in November for the purpose of gathering 

 up every frozen apple in the orchard, as vre have knovm growers to do, is the height 

 of futility, to say the least. Yfe pride ourselves on neatness and oraerliness in 

 the orchard, but apples on the ground may be overlooked unless they are a pest 

 menace. Then they should be gathered up every week and disposed of in such way 

 that they are no longer menacing. Maggot infested apples become a problem in late 

 July and continue so until late fall. 



In brief, drop disposal is an individual problem. iVhat is best in one orchard 

 may be unprofitable in a neighboring orchard, for the reasons suggested above. 

 The smoothness of the orchard floor and the nature of the cover crop enter into 

 the picture. 'I'vhat one might do on a laxm-like floor v^ould not be feasible in a 

 dense tangle of poison ivy. 



Good apples on the tree at harvest time deserve every attention. They must 

 be carefully picked, transported and stored. The others may or may not justiiy 

 additional investment. And if an uriinfested apple is loft on the ground, it not 

 only does no harm, but actually has a slight value from a mulching standpoint, 



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 CAN ORGANIC I.1ATTER BE INCREASED? 



Vfe sometimes speak of "building up the organic matter in the soil", as though 

 it were a simple task like raising the level of the silage in a silo, or filling 

 the coalbin, A build-up does occur in a svrampy area. But the rate of decomposi- 

 tion in a well-drained soil under our temperature and moisture set-up, may be 



