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er Fruit 



Work in the Apple Orchard 



IN NEW YORK and similar climates, most of the 

 winter apples are picked during October. 

 After apples have been well grown the next essential 

 is that they should be fully ripe before picked. 

 And they will not ripen unless the tree has been 

 so pruned as to let in the sunshine, and the foliage 

 sprayed with Bordeaux to prevent leaf blight. 

 The leaves must be kept intact and healthy until 

 the apples are fully ripe. The leaf is the feeding 

 organ, through which the apple takes nourishment 

 from the atmosphere, and when fungus destroys 

 the leaves the apples stop developing. Some 

 growers have found that spraying for leaf blight 

 prevents the apples from falling, and that they 

 cling better to the stem. 



For the finest flavor, leave the apples on the tree 

 until they are fully colored, which, with most of 

 the apples in this locality, is some time in October. 

 Don't hurry to get the apples picked for fear of 

 injury from frost or because of droppings and wind- 

 falls. Give the red varieties time to get red all over. 

 Such varieties as the Northern Spy will be of poor 

 quality if picked when partly green, but if left on 

 the tree until of a natural red color the flavor will 

 be excellent. If part of the crop ripens first, pick 

 them, but not the whole crop until the color shows 

 all the apples are ripe. The pippins and other green 

 varieties of apples show more yellow when ripe. 



The next question is how to pick the apples most 

 easily and without injury. This problem is best 

 solved by growing low-headed trees, so that one 

 can reach all the apples standing either on the 

 ground or on a step ladder. Some of the apple 

 pickers attached to long handles do good work. 

 These, if used from the ground or step ladder, do 

 not bruise or break the branches as do long heavy 

 ladders. If one has many apples to pick, it is a 

 good plan to make a bag of burlap, large enough 

 to reach just below the waist, to suspend from the 

 shoulders. Such a bag holds about half a bushel 

 and leaves both hands free. 



When picking an apple hold the branch or twig 

 with one hand, and with the other take hold of 

 the apple and break the stem, and so avoid break- 

 ing small twigs and marring the trees. Never drop 

 an apple. The skin must not be even slightly 

 bruised, but kept perfect and intact. Only in this 

 way can rot germs be kept out of the apples. 



In storing apples for winter, the temperature 

 must be kept low and even, and light and air ex- 

 cluded as much as possible. When I was a boy I 

 remember we used to bury a part of the apple crop 

 in the ground because of the lack of a good cellar, 

 and in the spring we would dig them up, finding 

 them fresh, juicy, and with all their natural flavor. 



A cellar with a furnace in it does not keep apples 

 well. • It should be partitioned off with a separate 

 apartment for fruit and vegetables. 



My plan of preserving apples for winter in the 

 cellar is as follows: As fast as the apples are picked 

 they are carried into the cellar and carefully spread 

 out, either on racks or on the cellar floor. A cement 

 or clay cellar bottom is just as good as a rack or 

 apple bin, but it is a good plan to put boards or 

 burlap over it first. I spread the apples only a 

 few inches deep and open all the cellar windows, 

 so as to make the cellar as cool as possible. The 

 apples can be left spread out in this way until 

 December, at which time they should be sorted, 

 and those taken out that show signs of decay. 

 Wrap the sound fruit wanted through the winter 

 for dessert in tissue paper, pack in barrels, and head. 



Store the apples wanted for culinary purposes in 

 barrels, boxes, or bins, without wrapping; and 

 those that are not perfectly sound make into sauce 

 and can, or into jelly, marmalades, etc. 



The plan of burying apples in the ground for 

 spring use is very simple. When picking the apples 

 late in the fall, dig a nit about twenty-four inches 

 deep, and place the apples in it, first putting a 

 little straw in the bottom to keep the apples clean. 

 If the apples are rounded up a little above the sur- 

 face, the pit will shed water better when covered. 

 Lay some straw and boards over the apples until 

 the hard freezing weather comes; then shovel 



Let the apples get properly ripened, before picking 

 tliem, if you -want good flavor 



several inches of soil over them. Open the pit 

 when the frost goes out of the ground in the spring. 



Incubator houses built to preserve an even 

 temperature, also unused refrigerators, are good 

 places in which to store apples during the late fall 

 and early winter months, as they preserve the cool 

 even temperature so much needed for stored fruit. 



New York. W. H. Jenkins. 



Evaporating Fruit on a Small 

 Scale 



INSTEAD of the old method of sun drying, we 

 use a portable evaporator. We have been 

 successful with all kinds of fruit, okra, and corn. 



Our evaporator is constructed of wood except 

 the bottom and firebox, which are of sheet iron. 

 The evaporator proper is three feet wide by five 

 long, is two feet high above the firebo.x or furnace, 

 has a partition in the centre with cleats nailed on 

 the sides to support the trays, there being ten of 

 these, five fitting in on either side of the partition. 

 It has a roof-like cover and small holes for ventila- 

 tion both above and below the trays. We set it 

 on top of the furnace, the evaporation being accom- 



129 



plished by radiation from the sheet-iron surface. 

 No pipes are run through the evaporator, the draft 

 from the furnace being carried off by a few joints 

 of common stovepipe on the outside. Two doors 

 on the side of the evaporator admit the trays, 

 which are two inches deep and constructed of wood 

 except the bottom, which is of half-inch-mesh 

 galvanized wire netting. During the process of 

 drying, the trays are shifted in such a way that the 

 top tier is brought nearer the fire, the drying being 

 finished in the lowest position. For best results 

 I find that the fruit should not be spread too thickly 

 on the trays — less than two inches — and should 

 be stirred once or twice during evaporation. 



We do not undertake to peel any considerable 

 quantity of fruit with knives, but use a paring ma- 

 chine, which also slices the apples in rings. How- 

 ever, it is necessary to do some hand work, and 

 for this we have short-bladed knives with smooth 

 wood handles that will not cramp the hand. 



While it does not improve the quality, the trade 

 demands that apples should be white. The fruit 

 is subjected to the fumes of burning sulphur as 

 soon as pared and sliced, and before being put into 

 the evaporator. Any tight box with cleats nailed 

 to the sides into which the trays may be placed will 

 answer, the sulphur being burned below. We 

 do this by placing a few live coals in an old pot, 

 adding a few sticks of brimstone at a time til) the 

 bleaching is done, which is in from thirty minutes to 

 an hour. We use half a pound of sulphur to a 

 hundred pounds of green fruit. 



We burn wood, but coal will answer as well if 

 the furnace is constructed for its use. In our small 

 evaporator about five or six hours are required 

 for drying, depending, of course, on the kind of 

 fruit. Where a sufficient force is kept at work it 

 is possible to make two runs a day. The fruit that 

 is pared and sliced in the afternoon may be dried 

 the next morning, but in the case of apples the 

 bleaching must be done before they discolor. 



The fruit will not have the hard, dry appearance 

 of the sun-dried ])roduct, as more of the juice is 

 retained, the outside being sufficiently seared to 

 preserve it. You can tell when it is dry by squeez- 

 ing some of it. If it is spongy and falls apart 

 when released, it has dried sufficiently. Compare 

 it with the commercial product; it should not be 

 quite so dry when removed from the evaporator, 

 as it has to be cured for several days before pack- 

 ing. We pour the fruit on a clean floor of a room 

 from which flies are excluded, and turn it over 

 every few days, that the whole ma}- become more 

 uniform, the drier pieces absorbing moisture from 

 those containing a surplus. 



It may not be amiss to state here that we use 

 all apple and peach parings for vinegar. They 

 are put in a clean barrel and sufficient rainwater 

 added to cover them. In a few days fermentation 

 has begun, and as soon as disintegration has com- 

 menced the liquid is strained off, poured into 

 another barrel and allowed to stand till it is vinegar. 



Missouri. H. F. Geinstead. 



Moving Big Trees 



BIG trees of the deciduous kinds are best moved 

 during the winter when the ball is frozen, and 

 they will be quite unconscious of the shift. During 

 the previous spring root prune by digging a three- 

 foot circle around the tree outside the proposed 

 ball, severing any roots that may be encountered 

 and immediately refilling the trench with soil. 



