124 HOBTICULTUKAL MANUAL. 



in a cool, dry room. But ifc pays best to mature them 

 before reaching the market. 



136. Picking and Handling Winter Apples. In dif- 

 ferent sections the season for picking a given variety varies 

 exceedingly. As instances, the Rhode Island Greening 

 and Northern Spy will ripen on the trees in Iowa or Kansas 

 if left until the usual time of picking in western New 

 York. In the dent-corn sections of the west and south- 

 west winter apples are picked when the seeds are brown 

 and the stem parts from the spur without rupture of the 

 bark. Over the west and southwest winter apples must 

 be picked three weeks earlier than in the Atlantic States. 

 Yet picking at proper time is more imperative in the 

 southwest than in New York, as even the Ben Davis will 

 get mellow on the trees if left until freezing weather is 

 feared. In picking, varieties of the season of Jonathan 

 and Fulton are picked first, and the tougher late apples, 

 such as Willow and Stark, last of all. 



The essentials to good keeping are picking when the 

 stem parts quite easily from the spur, picking when dry, 

 handling as carefully as eggs, and getting them as soon as 

 possible into a relatively dry, cool place. The old idea of 

 " going through the sweat " before placing in the cellar 

 has no foundation. Apples or other fruits will sweat at 

 any time if when cool they are exposed to a current of 

 warmer air loaded with moisture. 



137. Earth-covered Cave for Apple Storage, Earth- 

 covered caves are used often by nurserymen to store grape- 

 vines and fruit trees and for storing grafts of the orchard 

 fruits (85). The few who have tried it on a large scale 

 also find it a desirable place for storing winter apples. 

 For apple storage it should have ample ventilation. 

 When the apples are put in from the orchard in the fall 

 the days are usually warm and the nights cool. During 



