CHAPTER XVIII 

 STORING FRUIT 



IT is rare that a fruit grower is supplied with abundant and 

 efficient storage room. Frequently the only storage available 

 on the farm is the cellar of the dwelling house or, worse yet, of 

 the barn. While the late varieties of apples may keep sur- 

 prisingly well in these old cellars, there is no hope of holding 

 the earlier and more perishable fruits. 



Advantages of Good Storage. The principal advantages 

 which the orchard man secures by having adequate and efficient 

 storage are the following: 



1. Prevents Forced Sales. It puts him on an equality, or 

 nearly so, with the buyer. Frequently the great advantage which 

 the buyer has over the fruit grower is that the latter has no 

 place to store his fruit and the buyer knows this. He therefore 

 offers as little as his conscience will let him, knowing that the 

 orchard man, realizing his precarious position, will accept the 

 offer rather than run the risk of failing to find another buyer. 

 Now suppose that the grower has plenty of room in which to 

 store his fruit and that this storage is efficient so that his fruit 

 will keep in good condition for a long time. He is in a very 

 different situation from the former case. He knows that his 

 fruit will be perfectly safe for a number of weeks or months and 

 he therefore feels quite independent about selling. If the price 

 offered is satisfactory he will take it, and if not he will wait. 

 Good storage facilities, therefore, put the transaction just where 

 it belongs. Neither buyer nor seller has any advantage over the 

 other. If they can agree on a price the fruit changes hands, and 

 if they can not it does not. 



2. Good storage prevents gluts of the market by allowing the 

 producer to hold back a part of his crop. This is especially true 

 of the more perishable fruits. For example, in New England 

 there is what is known as "Elberta week," when this variety 



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