46 



TABLE X. Analyses of apple must by J. S. Kurd, Bureau of Chemistry, United States 

 Department of Agriculture, 1901. 



EAR VESTING,, TRANSPORTATION, AND STORAGE OF CIDER FRUIT. 



If quality in cider fruit is such a prime consideration, then any- 

 thing which acts either to enhance or to deteriorate the same must 

 receive attention. There is much discussion of this point going on in 

 foreign journals, and the standard literature of this subject contains 

 many notes thereon. The discussion hinges about certain principal 

 questions, as: (1) What is the proper season to gather the fruit? (2) 

 Shall it be hand picked or shaken ? (3) Shall it be kept in piles out of 

 doors on the ground ? or (4) shall it be kept on raised temporary struc- 

 tures, so as to protect the fruit entirely from contact with the earth? 

 or (5) should it be removed at as early a date as possible into storage 

 buildings ? 



Because of the fact that general culture of orchards for dessert 

 fruit has not reached that stage of development in Europe which it 

 has in the United States, they seem not to have worked out a sj^stem 

 of harvesting fruit at all comparable to ours, nor does it appear that 

 the harvesting and handling of cider fruits require such a system. 

 Yet there are some important considerations to be observed. 



The early fruit which is turned into cider is generally treated with 

 very little consideration. It is allowed to fall to the ground from the 

 effect of natural ripening, and is either worked up from time to time 

 or allowed to lie until such a time as it is convenient to whip off that 

 which still hangs on the trees, and all is then worked together. This 

 gives an uneven condition of fruit, and produces a poor product, which 

 is fermented rapidly and used for a cheap trade. Such fruit appears 



