278 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE 



tops, which can be run up into the tops of the trees and 

 rest against the branches. In orchards where trees are prop- 

 erly pruned a step-ladder is often all that will be required. 



Handling the fruit. After fruit is picked it is very im- 

 portant that it should be kept cool and away from direct 

 sun. Apples ripen very rapidly in the pile if they are 

 exposed to the direct rays of the sun. The best results are 

 obtained when apples are taken directly from the trees to a 

 cool room and then kept in storage, where the ripening proc- 

 ess is checked. When tree fruits are to be sold on the mar- 

 kets, they are usually sorted into three classes : first grade, 

 second grade, and culls. First-grade apples are carefully 

 placed in bushel boxes or in barrels, according to some system 

 of packing, such as is here shown in the illustration, and sold 

 on the markets of the world. In this lesson, however, we are 

 concerned only with the storing of fruit in the home cellar, 

 and not with commercial packing and storing. 



Home storage of fruit. The home storage is generally a 

 cellar, a half -cellar, or a building entirely above ground. An 

 ordinary house cellar, if it has good ventilation and is not 

 too dry, or too wet, or too warm, answers very well for the 

 storage of fruit. It is best, however, both for the purpose 

 of storage and for health, that the fruit cellar should be 

 separate from the dwelling house. 



The requisites of a good storage cellar are: protection 

 from frost, uniform temperature at about 40 degrees, facili- 

 ties for ventilation, and air moist enough to prevent evapora- 

 tion. In cellars which are too dry the fruit should be left 

 in closed packages, but if the air is moist and the temperature 



