ELEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 119 



drive out of the market the wormy, gnarled fruit from old 

 neglected orchards, and of unfamiliar kinds. 



Pruning also lets in sunlight and produces larger, firmer, 

 better-keeping fruit. 



P'ourth. If perfect control of temperature is assured through 

 cold storage, it is better to gather winter apples earlier than 

 formerly, or so soon as well colored and developed. In our 

 latitude. Greenings are usually ready for gathering for cold 

 storage from the 15th to the 25th of September, or as soon as 

 nearly full grown. Gathered at this season, they remain green 

 and bright. If left until October they may become yellow or 

 clouded. Red fruit may require to be left rather later to color, 

 but all varieties should be gathered as soon as condition of fruit 

 is right, regardless of temperature. My own practice is to gather 

 apples so long as men are willing to work, whether wet or dry. 

 The pickers are told to keep out all showing decay, but all the 

 rest are slid out of the picking baskets into large storage crates 

 holding a barrel each. These are hauled soon as possible to the 

 storage and tiered up nearly to the ceiling, with small spaces 

 between them at intervals for air circulation. All moisture from 

 dew or rain soon evaporates in the dry air of refrigeration. The 

 fruit is graded and barreled at time of marketing at a season of 

 comparative leisure. Whether this method is better than the 

 usual way of grading and barreling or boxing the fruit ready 

 for market before placing in cold storage, I am not prepared to 

 say. On the one hand, the fruit is more bruised and injured in 

 grading, and in the other system more imperfect specimens may 

 remain to work injury to the rest. I am unable to say whether 

 apples tightly barreled shrivel much less and keep longer than in 

 open crates. These details are controlled by adjustments in 

 temperature, humidity and ventilation, and much is yet to be 

 learned. In my particular case, my system gives me satisfactory 

 results which, in a great commercial warehouse, it would not be 

 policy to follow. 



After much thought and some little experience, I conclude 

 that the average fruit grower can do better by growing more 

 and better-keeping fruit, and selling it to the men who store on 

 a large scale rather than by attempting to build and operate a 

 small cold storage plant himself. I believe that mechanical cold 

 storage on a large scale is far better and more economical per 



