FRUIT GROWING 71 



has sold for as much as a full barrel of un- 

 graded stock. These fruits have placed ap- 

 ples in the class with high-grade oranges in 

 the retail trade. Five cents each and three for 

 ten cents is the usual price for them. This grade 

 of fruit should correspond to cream in the dairy 

 business, and like cream the quantity of such 

 fruit will vary from five to twenty per cent of 

 the total crop. A few growers only will pro- 

 duce box apples, as a few dairymen only main- 

 tain pure bred herds. The production of this 

 class of fruit is the fine art of fruit growing. 

 The great bulk of the fruit produced will con- 

 tinue to be barrel stock and well it may be so, 

 for the great fruit consuming population can 

 never be supplied with box stock, first, because 

 of the small percentage of fruit suitable for the 

 grade, and second, because the fruit must be 

 supplied at less cost to the consumer. 



Barrel stock which will keep as well, cook as 

 well, and taste as well as the box stock can be 

 delivered to the consumer at much less cost. 

 In the first place, barrel stock does not require 

 to be so closely graded as to size and form, 

 while uniformity of size and regularity of 

 form are of the utmost importance in box stock. 

 Color values count for less in barrel stock than 

 in box fruit. In other words expert know!- 



