FRUIT-GROWING 



FRUIT-GROWING 



355 



some one should be able to find the customer who 

 wants it. 



It has become a trite thing to say that care 

 should be exercised in picking and marketing, not 

 to injure the fruit ; but recent investigations have 

 given such advice new significance. The work of 

 Powell and others in California, and similar in- 

 vestigations in other parts, have shown that a good 

 part of the losses in oranges and other fruits in 

 shipment is due (1) to bruises and cuts on the 

 fruits, and (2) to failure to cool the fruits quickly 

 after they are picked or packed. This is rational 

 when it is considered that the organisms of decay 

 enter at the bruised and 

 broken places, and a 

 high or even ordinary 

 temperature encourages 

 the organisms to grow 

 rapidly. This subject is 

 discussed in the succeed- 

 ing article. The whole 

 subject of cooling, stor- 

 ing and handling fruits 

 must soon receive radi- 

 cal attention. 



Literature. 



There are now many 

 good books on fruit- 

 growing, presenting the 

 subject from different 

 points of view and for 

 the different fruits. 

 Mention of some of them 

 will be found in May- 

 nard's article on Farm 

 Garden, page 273. Some 

 of the current books 

 covering the general 

 field are: Thomas, Amer- 

 ican Fruit Culturist ; 



Budd and Hansen, American Horticultural Manual 

 (Vol. II is devoted to Systematic Pomology); Green, 

 Amateur Pruit-Growing (with special reference to 

 cold climates); Wickson, California Fruits ; Bailey, 

 Principles of Pruit-Growing. The progressive fruit- 

 grower will need the discussions in experiment 

 station bulletins, transactions of horticultural 

 societies, and the agricultural press. 



Handling and shipping fruit. 



By G. Harold Powell. 



A fundamental principle for the fruit-handler 

 and shipper to appreciate is that a fruit is a living 

 thing, that it passes through a life-history and 

 finally dies from old age when it has completed its 

 chemical and physiological changes, and that it 

 may die prematurely from the attack of some dis- 

 ease. Some of the diseases, like the bitter-rot and 

 the scab of the apple, affect it while it is on the- 

 tree, while others, like most of the soft rots of the 

 apple, pear, orange and small-fruits, are acquired 

 after the fruit is harvested. Diseases of the latter 

 generally attack it through abrasions or 



other physical weaknesses of the skin caused by 

 rough handling. It is especially important to 

 appreciate the effect of breaking the skin of a 

 fruit and of shipping fruit that is attacked by in- 

 sects or fungi, as the large commercial losses that 

 occur annually in the storage and shipment of 

 fruits are related primarily to these defects. 



When to pick. 



Most fruits should not be picked until they have 

 reached a stage of hard ripeness. If picked earlier, 

 the flavor is insipid, the color dull, and the whole- 

 someness and commercial value are impaired. Fruit 



Fig. 505. Packing peaches in Michigan. 



picked when immature does not keep so well as 

 when more nearly ripe. The seeds of the apple and 

 the pear should have turned brown, the apple and 

 the stone fruits should be highly colored but still 

 hard, and the small-fruits well colored but firm 

 when picked. The pear should be picked as soon as 

 the seeds turn brown, but before it shows ripeness 

 in the color. Lemons are picked when they have 

 reached a desired size, irrespective of color, and 

 the green fruit is colored in curing. Oranges 

 should reach full color, and should have attained 

 good quality before picking. It is a common prac- 

 tice early in the season to pick the orange while 

 the color is still green, and to color it in a room 

 by heat and moisture from oil stoves with water 

 pans over the flame. The practice of picking fruits 

 in an immature condition that are to be eaten out 

 of hand is to be strongly condemned, as it injures 

 the reputation of the fruit to have green specimens 

 in the hands of the consumer. 



Handling the fruit. 



It is difficult to give specific advioe on the care 

 that is necessary in fruit-handling. To be able to 



