96 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING 



fruit will not pay for the extra trouble. The fine 

 stables which the trotting-horse man has for his five- 

 thousand-dollar facers would be wasted if used for the 

 scrub ponies of the Texas ranges. Many men make the 

 mistake of putting inferior fruit into storage; and when 

 they fail, as they inevitably must, they condemn the 

 whole storage business. I have heard some of those 

 men speak in the horticultural societies. 



Handling the fruit. — Two things are usually 

 (though not always) necessary in handling the fruit 

 if success is to be expected in storage. These are: 

 (i) careful sorting and (2) subsequent rest. 



A few men succeed fairly well in storing apples, 

 grapes, and plums without sorting, or with only par- 

 tial sorting. The only safe rule, however, is to sort 

 all fruit carefully before sending it to the storage room. 

 Wormy and diseased specimens must all be removed. 

 A rotting plum or apple spreads the infection quickly 

 to all the fruits which it touches. This fact is so well 

 supported by wide experience that it need not be 

 argued any further. 



After the fruit has been picked, sorted, and put 

 into storage, however, it should be left alone. Any 

 further handling will do more damage than good. 

 This rule is almost imperative. Many men think it 

 necessary, or, at least, advisable, to go over fruit in 

 the storage room from time to time and remove decay- 

 ing specimens ; but all experience goes to prove that 

 this is bad practice. 



Regarding the time when fruit should be picked to 

 be put into storage there is the greatest diversity of 



