4 MODERN FRUIT MARKETING 
The only way for the beginner to be sure and get the 
fruit harvested at the right time is to experiment. It 
is of little value to rely upon the advice of neighbors 
unless one knows that they have been successful. The 
person unfamiliar with the harvesting operations can 
pick a few packages of fruit and send them to market 
and the returns that he gets will very soon indicate to 
him whether the fruit arrived in good condition. By 
keeping in touch with the selling force, be it a com- 
mission man or a special agent, he can tell to a much 
better advantage just when to pick the fruit in order 
to get it in the hands of the consumer in the best prime 
condition. 
In the Northern states, apples are usually allowed 
to hang on the trees as late in the fall as climatic con- 
ditions will warrant. Most of the growth in size and 
flavor apparently comes in the last two or three weeks 
of the growing period in the fall, and if the fruit can 
be allowed to hang on the trees, it will develop much 
in size and in quality during this time. The earlier 
varieties in the North and the other varieties in the 
South are usually picked when the market conditions 
are best to receive them. In most states, large quanti- 
ties of apples are put in storage. This is commendable 
in many respects, and will be considered more in detail 
in another place. 
Peaches, plums and apricots have to be picked every 
day or every other day, because the period in which they 
are at the best is very short. If they are allowed to 
stay on the tree too long they become soft and do not 
“stand up’? when they reach the market. Pears are 
almost always picked before they are mature. They 
