CHAPTER XVIII. 



Apples — Varieties, Packing. 



Although cherries and strawberries yield excellent 

 returns in the Kootenays, the mainstay of the fruit- 

 grower in that district, and, indeed, in every district 

 of British Columbia, is of necessity the apple. 

 Neither the cherry nor the strawberry will keep ; both 

 must be sold as soon as they are ripe, and there is a 

 limit to the distance to which either will travel. This 

 is not the case with the apple. Even as regards the 

 early varieties of the apple, there is a certain latitude 

 in selecting the time to put the fruit on the market. 

 It need not be sold the very day after it is taken off the 

 tree. But, apart from these varieties (of which no 

 sensible grower will plant any large number), the 

 later varieties, and especially the winter varieties, can 

 be kept for periods varying from four to some thirty 

 weeks, affording ample opportunity to seize the most 

 favourable moment for putting the fruit on the 

 market. Speaking generally, the travelling capacity 

 of the winter apple, at all events of certain varieties 

 of winter apple, has been abundantly demonstrated. 

 British Columbia apples travel to England, a journey 

 of over 5,000 miles, and even to Australia. The 

 Spitzenbergs and Yellow Newtown Pippins of the 



145 



K 



