68 The Fruit-Growers Guide-Book 



Most of the fancy fruit that is produced is held in cold 

 storage during the early part of the season, and its market 

 price will be determined largely by its superiority as a 

 cold storage product. This means that the fruit must be 

 picked in the proper condition. Fruit which is fully ripe, 

 but not overripe, well colored and placed in storage im- 

 mediately after harvesting keeps best. 



Picking Apples 



High quality apples must be picked by hand. Just 

 when to pick will depend on a variety of circumstances. 

 It depends on the variety of apple, the market to which 

 it is to go, the style of packing and the general excellence 

 of the crop. Red apples are usually ready to pick by the 

 time they have reached their full color; yellow apples can- 

 not always be determined when ready for picking by the 

 color of the skin. A better guide is by the size of the 

 apple and by the color of the seeds. When the seeds have 

 become a good brown color the apple has reached its ma- 

 turity and is ready for picking. Some varieties of apples 

 like Ben Davis and Northern Spy will hang on the trees 

 for a long time after becoming ripe enough to pick, while 

 varieties like Wagener and Wealthy or other early matur- 

 ing kinds, will generally begin dropping by the time they 

 have reached maturity. 



The time to pick apples is determined to some extent 

 by the distance to market. When apples are to be used 

 in the local market, or to be shipped only short distances, 

 they can be allowed to hang on the trees longer, and will 

 take on a higher color. If the fruit is to be shipped great 

 distances it must be picked as soon as possible after 

 having reached its maturity, although in some instances 

 the fruit may have to be gathered while it is still a little 

 on the green side of maturity. 



For high quality fruit it is the practice of many orchard- 

 ists, especially in the Western fruit sections, to make sev- 

 eral pickings, going over the trees at least three different 

 times, picking only the largest fruits each time. This will 



