ORCHARD MAXAGEMEXT. 123 



says truly: " If one makes a study of the markets he will 

 soon come to feel that the package and the packing cut a 

 most important figure in fruit sales." 



135. Picking and Handling Fall and Early Winter 

 Apples. — Many of the fall and early winter apples will bear 

 picking when the seeds are first browned and before they 

 are fully colored. The Fameuse, Wealthy^ Alexander, 

 Jonathan, Grimes G-olden, and many of the Russian 

 varieties will complete their coloring and ripen with 

 unimpaired flavor if picked much earlier than is usual. 

 Such early picked fruit should be barrelled when dry and 

 stored ranked up on their sides under a hay- or straw - 

 covered shed with free air-circulation until wanted for sale 

 in early winter. If the cold becomes severe enough to 

 endanger freezing, the barrels can be protected by a straw 

 covering. Some methodic growers known to the writer 

 keep Fameuse, Wolf River, Lubsk Queen, and other 

 handsome fall apples worth twenty cents per bushel into 

 winter, with profit in the way stated by waiting until the 

 last of November before removal from the shed to the 

 cellar. The straw- or hay- covered shed has done good 

 service at the west, as it does not heat up in the sunshine 

 like an enclosed building of wood or even brick. But I 

 have had even better success in storing fall apple barrels 

 on their side in a dirt-covered cave. This was closed 

 during the day and opened on two sides during the night. 

 In this way the cooler air of the night was stored for use 

 during the day. The autumn pears can also be picked 

 when the seeds first turn brown. If picked when the stem 

 parts quite readily from the spur and properly stored such 

 varieties as the Kieffer and Mongolian snow will develop 

 dessert quality never attained when ripened on the tree. 

 For distant shipment most fall varieties of the pear picked 

 when hard will ripen up in the covered crates or baskets 



