96 The Commercial Apple Industry 



From about 1910 to 1915, the plantings were very 

 heavy but owing to war conditions and the consequent 

 dislocation of markets, there has been very little increase 

 in areas in trees since that date. However, with the re- 

 turn to normal conditions one may expect to see a decided 

 spurt in planting. The tendency is to specialize in small 

 holdings in order to overcome labor difficulties, and in some 

 districts apple-growing is combined with general farming. 

 The average orchard has from fifteen to twenty-five acres, 

 so that most individual plantings are small. In this re- 

 spect it is more like the northwestern orchards than the 

 barreled apple sections of eastern United States. 



The harvest season for Australian apples is a long one. 

 Trees are picked over for the largest fruit about every 

 two weeks from the middle of February to the middle of 

 April, for export to England and foreign markets. The 

 remainder of the crop and those varieties maturing too 

 late for export are picked and stored either in packing- 

 houses, in orchards, or in common storage and are then 

 packed out at the owner's discretion. This means that 

 fruit is being packed out nearly all the year. Picking and 

 packing is nearly all by day labor. The fruit is wrapped 

 and packed in a similar manner to the northwestern 

 method. No standardization of grades has thus far been 

 attempted, each individual grower making his own grades. 

 The bulk of the Australian apples is harvested from Feb- 

 ruary to May and reaches the foreign markets during April, 

 May and June. They could be placed on American mar- 

 kets from March to August. In shipping the fruit, it is 

 usually packed in bulk or boxes containing one imperial 

 bushel or half bushel. Many canning factories buy fruit 

 by weight. The general export varieties of Australia, 



