PICKI^G 45 



plums, like Wildgoose and Pottawattamie, are apt to 

 break their skins when overripe, and additional pre- 

 cautions have to be obser\-ed to pick such varieties 

 sufficiently green. 



Pears are usually taken from the tree before they 

 are ripe, and are stored in a moderately cool, dark 

 place to ripen. They should not be piled up too 

 deeply. For marketing it is probablj' best to pack 

 them temporarily in boxes and baskets convenient for 

 handling. In case they are to go to market soon they 

 may even be packed directly into the permanent boxes 

 or baskets, and these packages may be placed in the 

 storage room. Aside from the Kieffers and the Cali- 

 fornia fruit, the pear business is so small in this country 

 that no satisfactory system of handling it has been 

 worked out. 



Apples are practically never allowed to ripen fully 

 on the trees. Many early apples, especially from 

 southern orchards, are sent to market before they are 

 full grown and while the seeds are quite white. Sum- 

 mer and earl}^ fall apples are always sold considerably 

 on the green side. I^ate keeping varieties do not really 

 ripen, of course, till January or March, as the case 

 may be, but they are ready to pick just about the 

 time the frost begins to thin the foliage visibly on the 

 trees. Certain varieties. Spy in particular, are left 

 hanging late, even after the leaves have mostly fallen 

 and until night frosts are decidedly sharp. Fameuse 

 and apples of that type require to be picked relatively 

 earl)'. When they begin to fall from the trees picking 

 time has come. The poorer specimens naturall}^ fall 

 earliest from trees of all varieties, and by watching 



