STORAGE OF APPLES IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST. 13 
(1) Picking at a proper maturity. 
(2) Care in all handling operations. 
(3) Prompt storage. 
(4) A proper storage temperature. 
MATURITY AT THE TIME OF PICKING. 
Table I gives the average percentage of serious storage troubles 
found in Rome Beauty, Winesap, Yellow Newtown, Stayman Wine- 
sap, Ortley, and Arkansas Black when picked at and somewhat before 
full maturity. These include “bad scald,” the term used to desig- 
nate scald that is serious enough to detract from the commercial 
value of the fruit, and physiological and fungous decays. Other 
storage troubles are noted as they appear in the various lots. The 
results given for Yellow Newtown and Rome Beauty are an average 
of the data obtained during the four seasons the work has been 
carried on. The Winesap results are an average of three seasons’ 
experiments, 1912-13, 1913-14, and 1914-15. The Stayman Winesap 
and Ortley data cover but two seasons, while the data for Arkansas 
Black are for one year, but include several lots. 
No definite statement can be made regarding the commercial pick- 
ing dates of a variety. Yellow Newtown, Rome Beauty, and Wine- 
sap may usually be harvested any time between the latter part of 
September and first of November, depending upon seasonal condi- 
tions and the degree of maturity desired. Great variation in the 
time at which apples mature is also caused by the age of the trees, 
the soil, cultural conditions, elevation, and the site of the orchard. 
In general, the immature pickings of these varieties were made 
during the last two weeks of September and the mature pickings 
from October 2 to October 20. 
The first three sections of Table I and Plates I and IT show the 
injurious effect of immature picking clearly enough to require little 
discussion. In Rome Beauty (Table I) at the third withdrawal 
from storage, March 31 to April 2, the immature fruit developed 
more than 48 times as much bad scald in storage as the mature fruit. 
Even at the last withdrawal, May 4 to 11, there was 17 times as much 
bad scald in the early as in the mature picking. These figures, it 
must be remembered, are not the results of a single experiment, but 
the average of several experiments covering a period of four years. 
The results with Winesap (Table I) are equally striking. It is 
reliably estimated that several thousand dollars are lost to the in- 
dustry each year by premature pickings of these two varieties alone. 
As the first pickings were made no earlier than a considerable portion 
of the same varieties are picked commercially, the necessity for strict 
attention to this point is plainly evident. 
