GATHERING HARD FRUITS 



263 



for very often they are maggoty. If sound, and when cut open the pips 

 (seeds) are of a dark colour, the fruits are ready for gathering. Our experience, 

 however, is that more apples are spoilt by being gathered too early than the 

 reverse. Fruit fully matured keeps sound longer and is in every way better 

 than fruit not quite ripe, and a few fruits lost at gathering are unimportant 

 if one obtains the bulk of the crop at the proper time. When storing the 

 finest exarnples may be placed in single layers, and the remainder should be 

 carefully laid on the shelves not more than two layers thick (one preferably), 

 except the late and smaller-sized dessert sorts, which can be heaped up to i^ 

 feet deep without harm. 

 Any bird - pecked, mag- 

 goty, or bruised fruits 

 should not be stored with 

 the sound ones. 



Late Apples. — These 

 require more care in stor- 

 ing, as a bruised fruit will 

 decay and affect all those 

 that come into contact 

 with it. It is not every 

 fruit-room that will admit 

 of the entire crop being 

 laid out in one or two 

 layers, therefore the later 

 fruits may have to be 

 heaped, but if carefully 

 handled they keep well in this way on the floor. The drier sorts can be laid 

 more thickly than the juicy ones. They must not be left in the baskets, as the 

 uneven sides of the latter bruise the outside fruits. We do not find any 

 covering necessary, but care must be taken to keep out severe frosts, either by 

 extra inside or outside covering ; especially is this essential when wind and 

 cold come together. We find a lamp to give sufficient heat. 



Gathering Pears. — Pears are very tender, and much care is required in 

 gathering and in storing. Never should more than one layer be permitted in 

 the fruit-room ; then every fruit can be seen at a glance, and any commencing 

 to decay can be at once removed. More than ordinary care must be exercised 

 to avoid storing any bird-pecked or unsound fruit, for pears should not be 

 moved when once placed in the fruit-room. 



Early Pears. — It is found that these are better flavoured when gathered a 

 week before they appear to be ripe ; the tree should be cleared at intervals. 

 So treated they are less liable to become mealy and decay in the centre. The 

 mid-season varieties can be tested {a) by slightly raising the fruit, when, if fit 

 to gather, the stalk parts readily from the spur ; {b) by examining the seeds as 

 with the apple ; (c) by observing when the stalk end grows over the spur it is 

 attached to ; {d) by a change of colour from green to orange. 



Late Pears. — These require to be carefully managed. The trees must be 



a Spring Barrow, most Useful for Transferring Baskets 

 OF Hard Fruit from the Trees to the Fruit Room 



Length of shaft, 6 ft. 6 in. ; diameter of wheel, i ft. S in. ; 

 width of barrow, 2 ft. 



