In the short-season regions with much later harvests and cooler falls, 
to which Baldwin is best adapted, it can be held very successfully until 
midwinter or later in common storage. 
Baldwin tends to scald considerably in storage, particularly as 
grown in the South, and to develop bitter pit when grown in the 
North. Early picking would favor these disorders. It also has a 
marked tendency to drop as soon as the fruit reaches the best picking 
condition or in some cases before. This tendency to drop has largely 
determined the time of picking. 
The number of days from bloom to harvest for Baldwin, recorded 
for a number of localities and seasons, varies greatly. The shortest 
periods have been recorded. for New York with an average of 135 
days for 4 seasons (19), but 145 days was recorded for 1 season.? The 
longest periods have been recorded in Ohio, with an average of 161 
days for 30 seasons (4) and a range of 147 to 166 days. Other records 
(74) for only 1 or 2 seasons gave 136 and 146 days for Massachusetts, 
142 and 160 days for Ohio, 138 days for Virginia, 145 days for New 
York, 145 days for Washington, and 186 and 155 days ® for Michigan. 
In nearly all instances these figures were derived from the records of 
actual dates on which apples were harvested and did not include com- 
parisons with earlier or later pickings to determine whether the har- 
vest dates represented optimum maturity. Harvests made less than 
140 days after bloom may have been necessitated by a tendency to 
premature dropping that could have been retarded by harvest sprays. 
On the other hand, in the more northern areas growers could not har- 
vest their apples after an elapsed period after bloom of 160 days (re- 
ported for Ohio), as their growing seasons from bloom to severe freez- 
ing are generally not that long. On the basis of these results it seems 
likely that at least 140 days should elapse from bloom before picking 
of Baldwins starts and that a more nearly optimum time of picking 
would be between 145 and 155 days from bloom. Any tendency for 
apples to drop earlier than this should be controlled if possible with 
harvest sprays. 
Ben Davis 
In the eastern half of the United States Ben Davis is grown com- 
mercially over an extremely wide range of climatic conditions from 
south to north. The condition of the fruit at picking time will vary 
somewhat in these different areas, particularly as to firmness of flesh. 
Probably this variety is handled more extensively than any other 
in common storage. The fruit holds late on the tree and there is 
little dropping ; consequently, it is usually well matured when picked 
and relatively little scald develops during storage. If picked in an 
immature condition, however, the variety often shows extremely 
severe scald development. 
Usually from 155 to 160 days elapses between the blooming season 
and the time of picking Ben Davis. In the northeastern apple areas 
it is frequently the last variety picked, and in the more southern apple 
areas the normal picking season is in early October. 
This variety should not be picked before the ground color reaches 
the almost full yellow condition shown in Nos. 3 and 4 of the color 
chart. The fruit should be highly colored, also. When this condi- 
56 See footnote 2, p. 2. 
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