FACTORS INFLUENCING KEEPING QUALITY. 17 



to extend the picking and shipping* season over the longest possible 

 time, in order to avoid congestion and consequent delays in shipping 

 and in unloading the fruit. The facilities at the warehouses are often 

 inadequate for the quick handling of the fruit from the cars when it 

 is received in unusually large quantities, and this condition has also 

 favored a longer shipping season. 



In localities where the entire crop is sometimes ruined by the bitter 

 rot after the fruit is half grown the picking of the apples is often 

 begun early in the season in order to secure the largest amount of 

 perfect fruit. 



It is not generally the case, however, that the immature and partly 

 colored fruit has the best keeping quality. On the other hand, an 

 apple that is not overgrown and which has attained full growth and 

 high color, like the lower figure of York Imperial in Plate I, frontis- 

 piece, but is still hard and firm when picked, equals the less mature 

 fruit (upper figure, Plate I) in keeping quality, and often surpasses it. 

 The mature fruit is superior in flavor and texture; it is more attractive 

 to the purchaser, and therefore of greater money value. It retains its 

 plumpness longer and is less subject to apple scald. If, however, 

 the fruit is not picked until overripe, it is already near the end of its 

 life history, and will deteriorate rapidly unless stored soon after 

 picking in a low temperature. 



In the experiments with the Tompkins King and the Sutton apples 

 grown in New York on rapidly growing young trees producing 

 unusually large apples, the fruit that was three-fourths colored kept 

 longer than the fully colored apples from the same trees. Dark red 

 Tompkins King showed 28 per cent of physiological decay in Febru- 

 ary following the storage. Light, half red Tompkins King from the 

 same trees, picked at the same time, showed 10 per cent of physiological 

 decay in February following the storage. Plate II shows Tompkins 

 King in February at two degrees of color. The fruit represented by 

 the lower specimen had the longer-keeping quality, even though both 

 lots were hard when picked. Whether the same conditions hold true 

 of other varieties that are overgrown has not been determined. 



A considerable number of later varieties may be picked when they 

 are beginning to mellow, and will keep for months in prime condition 

 provided they are handled with great care and quickty stored after 

 picking in a temperature of 31° to 32° F. Fruit in this ripe state can 

 not be left in the orchard or in warm freight cars, or in any other 

 condition that will cause it to ripen after picking, without seriously 

 injuring its value. In this ripe condition it should be stored in boxes, 

 and a fruit wrapper will still further protect it. 



Apples that are to be stored in a local cold-storage house to be dis- 

 tributed to the large markets in cooler weather may be picked much 

 later than fruit requiring ten days or more in transit, but the use of 



1202— No. 18—03—2 



