PICKING FRUIT. — WHEN TO riCK. 55 



Baldwin is one of the first to suffer. The remedy lies 

 chieHy in growing windbreaks. Prairie climates are 

 especially destructive, and any natural protection for the 

 orchard should be eagerly souglit. 



CHAPTER XV. 



PICKING FRUIT.— WHEN TO PICK. 



I know of no pleasanter transition than that of turn- 

 ing from the elaborate stagings, ladders and fruit-pickers 

 often described in fruit books, to the simple and easy 

 methods of fruit harvesting practiced by successful grow- 

 ers. There are three things essential to safe and rapid 

 apple picking : an ordinary light step-ladder, a couple of 

 half-bushel, round bottom, handled baskets, with a hook 

 on the handles, and a smart boy who is not afraid to 

 climb. The ladder is the least essential article of the 

 three. If trees are properly pruned, they will allow a 

 man with a basket to enter the top. An ordinary iron 

 hook will serve to hang the basket on a limb while it is 

 being filled. Apple limbs are strong, and they will hold 

 a boy or man more safely than is genei'ally supposed. As 

 a general thing, a boy is afraid to venture far, but a little 

 training will enable him to climb well. Nor is it essen- 

 tial that the boy should be exceedingly young and light 

 in order to reach most of the apples on a high tree. It 

 is quickness and agility, rather than lightness, that make 

 a good apple picker. I know from experience that a 

 young man of twenty-five can be of more service in an 



