Picking the Fruit 251 



little to the grower after the fruit is out of his sight. He 

 knows that the fruit was not satisfactory to the buyer, 

 but he is often at a loss to know how to improve his 

 methods of marketing. While the fruit-grower need not 

 be alarmed over our present methods, we feel sure that im- 

 provements in methods of picking, packing, and market- 

 ing will have to keep pace with the rapidly increasing 

 acreage of bearing orchards. Otherwise the net returns 

 will gradually diminish until large profits, which are now 

 the great stimulus to fruit-growing, will no longer recom- 

 mend it to the man in search of a vocation. When asked 

 whether there is any danger of overproduction of fancy 

 fruit, we feel safe in answering in the negative, but always 

 qualify the statement by suggesting that we may be 

 obliged to grow better fruit. There will always be a market 

 for the best fruit, and there will always be a best way to 

 pick and to pack it. 



Picking the Fruit 



Possibly the grower of fancy fruit in the arid fruit sec- 

 tions does not fully realize that much of his fruit is held 

 in cold-storage during the early part of the season, and 

 that the high price which he receives, as compared with 

 prices paid for fruit in other sections, is due partly to its 

 superiority as a cold-storage product. It is to the grower's 

 advantage, then, to see that the fruit goes into storage in 

 the best possible condition. This means that the fruit 

 must be picked in the proper condition, handled carefully, 

 and stored promptly. 



The fruit-grower must realize that the fruit is a living 

 organism that reaches the end of its life and dies of old 



