,o22 
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 
Fig. 2. 
picker. Perhaps no work in the orchard 
requires the exercise of more care and 
good judgment than the work of picking. 
A low step-ladder to be used in picking 
the fruit just out of reach of a man stand- 
ing on the ground and another. tall enough 
to reach the upper branches of the large 
trees will usually be sufficient. Various 
types are illustrated. The tripod or three- 
legged type, is by far the best adapted to 
average conditions. 
GRANVILLE LOWTHER 
Time to Pick 
Picking is one of the most important 
phases of getting the apple upon the mar- 
ket. It has a marked influence upon the 
keeping qualities, color, size and flavor of 
the fruit. Too much attention is frequent- 
ly given to getting depth of color, and, as 
a consequence, over-ripeness, caused by the 
fruit hanging too long upon the tree, is 
very often the result. The time of pick- 
ing is influenced very markedly by the 
variety, climate, soil, elevation, shipping 
Scene on Thompson Fruit Ranch Showing Type of Bucket Used for 
of Fruit. 
All Kinds 
distance, and season. Apples may be 
divided, according to their condition at 
maturity, into several different classes. 
Among the apples that drop when they 
are ripe, we may mention” the Grimes 
Golden, Wagener, Wealthy and Winesap. 
Other apples that drop before they are 
ripe are such varieties as the Graven: 
stein, McIntosh and Snow. Many apples 
that hang too long on the tree develop 
core rot, and we find that the Jonathan, 
Gravenstein, Delicious, and Ortley come 
under this class. Others, if they hang 
too long, get mellow or soft after pick- 
ing, and have a short season of consump- 
tion. In this class we would include such 
apples as Jonathan, King, and Baldwin. 
Some varieties, such as Early Harvest, 
Duchess, Red Astrachan, and the Jona- 
than are troubled with cracking at the 
calyx. On the other hand, there are vari- 
eties like the Spy and Ben Davis that 
may hang after maturity before picking. 
Summer apples should be picked green 
for shipment. They should have some 
