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CHAPTER XXV. 



OF GATHERING APPLES AND PEARS. 



*r}ie Time and Manner of Gathering them ; and of the Manage^ 

 ment of the Fruit-room* — Of Packing Fruit for Carriage, 



As Apples shaken or beaten down with a pole 

 never keep in Winter, they ought all to be hand- 

 picked by a person standing on steps made on pur- 

 pose. 



The steps should be light, for convenience of 

 moving from one place to another ; and so con- 

 trived, that the ladder may be disengaged from the 

 the back at pleasure ; which may easily be done if 

 they are fastened together by a bolt at top. There 

 should be a broad step at top to stand on, with 

 room for the basket which is to hold the fruit. 

 When you begin to gather the fruit, you should be 

 provided with hand baskets of different sizes, and 

 also with large baskets, or hampers, and wheel- 

 barrows. You must lay some short-grass mowings, 

 perfectly dry, (which you ought to provide for the 

 purpose in Summer, and keep in a shed or any 

 other dry place till wanted) at the bottoms of 

 the large baskets and hampers, to prevent the 

 fruit from being bruised. 



Observe attentively when the Apples and Pears 

 are ripe ; and do not pick them always at the same 

 regular time of the year, as is the practice with 



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