282 



RIPENING OF APPLES AND TEARS. 



BIPEUING OF APPLES AHD PEAEa 



As many farmers and orchardists will be bnsy in 

 gatlieriug their fruit crop for winter use during this 

 and the coming month, we may be able to give some 

 useful hints. 



To have sound and perfect apples through the 

 winter months, it is absolutely necessary that much 

 care should be given in gathering. This should be 

 deferred with the winter fruit as late as practicable and 

 avoid early severe frosts. The fruit should be picked 

 from the tree by means of ladders, and placed in bas- 

 kets, when it should be assorted and packed at once 

 carefully in new tight barrels. These barrels, after 

 heading, should be removed on sleds to a shed through 

 which the air circulates freely, or they might be pro- 

 tected easily from the dew and rain by placing boards 

 over them. They may be allowed to remain in this 

 situation a week or more, or until the cold is too se- 

 Tere, when they should be transferred to a cool, dry 

 cellar, and into wliich air may be admitted in mild 

 weather. 'I'he barrels should then be placed in tiers 

 upon their sides, numbering upon each head the 

 qualify of the fruit contained in the barrel, and the 

 name. The small imperfect but sound fruit is treat- 

 ed in the same manner, and marked No. 2, indicating 

 an inferior sort. Apples which are intended for mar- 

 ket are frequently assorted into three diflerent classes, 

 the best, good, and inferior — the former being all .se- 

 lected fruit; the good containing sound fruit of me- 

 dium or small specimens; the third being so poor 

 that the fruit is wholly unfit for market, and suitable 

 only for stock or immediate family use. All of this 

 is easily doc.e, yet many whole orchards bring but an 

 inferior price for want of this care. 



Too often we find that winter apples are left upon 

 the tree very late in the autumn, frequently till they 

 have been e.xposed to two or three severe frosts ; 

 wheu convenient tbej are sh^en from the trees, the 



good and bad poured into barrels or open wagons, of 

 perhaps half a dozen sorts. ' Afterwards they are 

 emptied promiscuously into bins, barrels, or open 

 bo.xes, where they are e.xpected to keep well through 

 winter. This is a most ruinous method, yet it is 

 practised by at least three-fourths of the farmers; or 

 they adopt another course equally as wasteful in se- 

 curing the fruit. 



Fully one-half is lost by this method of gather- 

 ing, as the fruit ripens prematurely and decays rapid- 

 ly by being bruised. The decay is \ery much hasten- 

 ed where several sorts are mixed promiscuously to- 

 gether, ripening at as many different seasons. Those 

 kinds, too, which do not come to maturity till late in 

 the winter or early in the spring, are turned and han- 

 dled many times when assorting those which are in 

 season during November and December. 



Light is found unfavorable to the keeping of fruit, 

 and should be excluded: and it is often noticed that 

 where fruit, particularly pears, is placed in a room 

 above ground, and oftentimes in a very dry cellar, 

 and left exposed to the air they shrivel. They should 

 therefore be kept either in barrels or tight boxes. 

 About the lime pears are needed for use they can be 

 removed to a room of higher temperature and kept 

 as closely as before in drawers or boxes, where they 

 will ripen very speedily, and will possess much finer 

 flavor than if allowed to ripen in a cooler place. By 

 treating pears in this way, one variety can be made 

 to last a long time. 



Summer pears ought to be gathered a week before 

 ripe ; early autumn kinds about ten days or more ; 

 late fall and winter varieties ought to be allowed to 

 hung upon the trees as long as they may and escape 

 frost. 



There is yet very much to learn in ripening winter 

 pears well, more particularly the late sorts. But few 

 orchardists are there who have been successful in ri- 

 pening such sorts as Easter Bevrre, Josephine de 

 Maliiies, Prince's St. Germain, and many other late 

 winter kinds. In fact, it is found almost impossible 

 with the fruit rooms, convenieucies, and cellars now 

 in ordinary use. Some few enterprising persons in 

 this country have expended considerable suras in 

 buildings, etc., to ripen winter sorts, and in the main 

 succeed well; but it is quite useless for farmers and 

 many others to plant trees of such varieties of fruits 

 that require so much care in ripening, unless they are 

 prepared to embark into it extensively, erect the ne- 

 cessary buildings, and give close attention to it; then 

 it will pay and prove quite remunerative ; otherwise 

 all trials or experiments will be quite unsatisfactory. 



