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"The apple industry has more problems than othjr typus of fruits and 

 vegetable's. Grcvrers are spread over such a vast territory that collective action 

 is imnensely more difficult than vdth citrus or cranberries. Then there are the 

 coEipli cations of varieties, sizes and grades. Yet the message must be put across 

 to the countless growers that their financial safety lies in concerted action to 

 improve the quality and condition of the fruit they sell. The slogan for 19!^1 

 should be: 'Leave the poor apples at home'." 



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THIS JJTO THAT 



Delicious Variety Hakes Up One-Fifth of U. S. Crop . During the period 

 19ii3-'nB7~2lTr~of the commerciaT apple cropTn the U. S. vras of the Delicious 

 variety. Four varieties made up nearly half, the others being v/inesap, 12^^; 

 Mcintosh, 8/o; Jonathan, 7%. During this period, the state of Washington produced 

 29/^ 01 the commercial crop. The next three states v/ere Nev; York, 12$!^, California 

 and Virginia, 8^ each. Massachusetts, in 11th place, contributed 2%» 



Baking Apples in an Earthen-^Varc Crock . A Virginia housev/ife says 'vve don't 

 knovf baked apple until v;e have tasted them baked in a slov/ oven in an earthen-vrarc 

 crock, v;here they cook dovm thick and rich and develop a flavor no other method 

 can produce. Sounds out of this worldl She says her friends have practically 

 exhausted the supply of eartheh-vrare crocks in her home tovm. .7e pass this idea 

 along for v/hatever it may be worth, v:ith an offer to help sample the vrares of 

 our "second to none" cooks in Massachusetts. 



Storage Humidity . The harvest season is a good time to begin thinking about 

 the relative humidity of the apple storage, and doing something about it. Dry 

 boxes T.lll draw r:ater out of the apples, vdth some shrivelling as a result. Apples 

 in each box may lose a pound of tvater in that way. To insure adequate moisture in 

 the storage, every operator should have a simple device for measuring the relative 

 humidity, such as a vret and dry bulb thermometer. It is an inexpensive gadget. 

 If several requests come in to the county office, arrangements can undoubtedly be 

 made to pool the orders as vras done last year. A simple table showing the 

 relation; between the readings on the wet and dry bulb thermometers and the 

 relative humidity mil be included in an early issue of FRUIT NOTES. 



Getting Ready for the Pruning Season . Late summer and fall is an ideal 

 season to detect mistakes in previous pruning and to improve the pruning technique 

 during the next dormant season. As a start, the writer suggests tagging a few 

 branches before harvest time to identify those parts of the tree producing small, 

 green apples, '.i/lien the load of fruit is removed, these branches -will tend to 

 spring upvrard and vail look quite different than at present. Vath an identification 

 tag attached this month, our courage may be bolstered up enough at pruning time to 

 bring about a more effective job of removing shaded, submerged, drooping or dov;n- 

 ward growing branches. Pruning a bearing tree has as its principal objective the 

 development of a more valuable crop of fruit. '.Ye can do much v;ith a pruning saw 

 to eliminate poor apples at the source, by cutting off the braiiches which produce 

 them. 



