STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 113 



Now, having picked and barreled our apples, what shall we do 

 ■with them? That is the "prize conundrum" for this year, I think, 

 though possibl}' another fall may solve it to our satisfaction. But, 

 with our cellars and bins full, a slight demand, and a price that 

 barelj^ pays the cost of growing, picking, barrelling and marketing, 

 it really is a most serious question as to "what are we going to do 

 about it." Of course we want to sell them, to get the highest price 

 we can for them, and if we could have things just to our liking we 

 would want an abundant yield in Maine, no apples in England, &x 

 slight crop in New York and Michigan, and a big price all winter 

 for apples delivered in Portland. All these conditions don't ccnie 

 round just as we want them ever3' year, but of one thing we saay 

 be quite sure — two years in succession where the opposite coa- 

 ditions present themselves are not likely to be followed by a third; 

 of like nature. So let us take courage. Two or three tbiings may 

 be mentioned as being generalbj correct— to be qualified somewhat, 

 of course, by the particular characteristics of the season. These 

 are, first, Vatit generally i\\Q sooner you can get your apples, mar- 

 keted after they are barrelled and ready for market, and get the 

 money for them down into your trousers pocket, or into that "old 

 stocking leg" in the till of the chest, the better. There is shrink- 

 age, waste, loss, expense, and risk in holding, re-packing, etc , and 

 if you can sell in the fall at a good price, and avoid all this, be sure 

 to do so. But observe, be wise ! Don't send 30ur apples to Eng- 

 land, or anywhere else, on an over stocked market, because 30U 

 want to get a reputation, as Secretary* Gold did, and when all ex- 

 penses are paid find you have not enough left to pa^' for picking and 

 hauling to market. In one week last fall four American ports sent 

 to England a total of 440,875 barrels of choice American apples, 

 and kept it up for several weeks. Of course prices were low. 

 Again, secondly, remember that generally we must plan to keep 

 back our apples till spring. We grow the best late-keeping apples that 

 ripen under the sun. I say we, and mean we of the State of Maine. 

 But we have not the facilities for properly keeping them. House 

 cellars, as a general thing, are not fit to keep apples in from No- 

 vember to April. They are too warm, are filled with vegetables and 

 other necessary supplies, and are thoroughly unfitted to become the 

 storage places for commercial apples. Cold storage cellars, or re- 

 frigerating houses, are coming to be an absolute necessity with our 



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