Picking Apples 69 



often result in increasing the grade of the fruit, as apples 

 will continue to increase in size, and deepen in color, 

 during the last few days they remain on the tree. Some 

 varieties of red apples will not take on the highest color 

 they can attain until after the leaves have begun to thin 

 out a little in the fall and allow the sunlight to enter the 

 tree. | 



The coloring of an apple is a character that has a great 

 influence over the final price the fruit will bring in the 

 market. Red apples that have reached maturity, and are 

 perfect in every respect except that they are poorly col- 

 ored, will not bring the same price as apples that are per- 

 fectly colored. In some of the Western fruit districts 

 that make a specialty of fancy fruit, it is demanded by the 

 associations that the growers put into their first grade 

 or extra fancy fruit, only apples that are at least 70 per 

 cent red. By making several pickings the color of much 

 of the fruit can be increased materially, and the increased 

 price for high colored fruit offsets the increased cost of 

 making additional pickings. 



In picking fruit every care should be exercised that the 

 skin of the fruit is not injured by punctures from the fruit 

 spurs, and from the finger nails of the pickers. It should 

 not be knocked against any object that would cause a 

 bruise. A bruise so slight as to not be noticeable will 

 develop into a discoloration in many varieties, especially 

 yellow apples, and possibly cause the tissue to break down 

 and rot. The pickers should be warned and watched 

 against pulling out the stems of the apples. Every fruit 

 should have the stem left in the apple, and this can always 

 be had if the fruit is not pulled off the twig. Each apple 

 should be grasped firmly and lifted up at a sharp angle 

 to the twig and given a quick twist. Unless very green, 

 the stem will break easily from the spur. When a stem 

 is pulled out of the fruit it always leaves a wound into 

 which mould spores can enter and start the apple to rot- 

 ting. 



Mechanical pickers are of little value in harvesting a 

 crop of fancy apples. They may be of some service in the 



