96 



absolutely not buy cold storage apples. Whether the flavor goes 

 out of cold storage apples, I do not know, but they think the apples 

 are not good after being in cold storage. 



R. M. Eldon. Do you ship on the cars, or how do you get 

 them to market? 



Mr. Lewis. Practically all the apples we grow we grade and 

 the better grade we box, just as you have these boxed here, and 

 those we ship all over the world, and what we call seconds, are fairly 

 good apples, which we sell in local markets, hauling them in bushel 

 baskets, by wagon. 



Member. Do vou store in bulk? 



Mr. Levels, Yes sir ; we store in bulk. There are just a few 

 little things that I might call your attention to. AVe have our regu- 

 lar customers that we supply. We have six in Wilkes-Barre. four 

 in the city of Pittston, and four in Scranton. Anyone outside of 

 those few we would not sell a bushel at any price. 



People get anxious for anything they can't get. After we have 

 marketed to them a little while, a fellow once in a while will get a 

 little independent and when that fellow tells us his request for that 

 day or the next day, it may be lo bushels. A\'hen we go there the 

 next day we only give him six bushels. If we just try to give him 

 one extra one he would fade away, but if we cut him short he gets 

 anxious right away. 



Mr. Houck. You speak of having your own storage. Can 

 you keep your apples without using ice? I think that would take 

 the flavor. How do you preserve your apples to keep them? 



Mr. Lewis. We have a storage built of concrete i6 feet wide 

 and 80 feet long and 10 feet high. We went into a bank four feet 

 so when the thing was completed we had taken out just enough 

 dirt to cover the top. It can be arched over with concrete or stone 

 or whichever is the cheaper. AA'e ventilate it from the top. In 

 picking, we take our apples just as they are picked. Not over 15 

 or 20 minutes from the time they are taken from the trees we have 

 them in the storage. The important point in storage is to get them 

 promptly in storage. At picking time we have occasionally a cold 

 day and a cold night, and any day it is colder outside than inside 

 we open ventilators and then close them again. AVe have it well 

 enough insulated that we can hold it at whatever point we have 

 it. 



Mr. Houck. AVould it be an advantage to have a mode of forc- 

 ing cold air underneath and letting the other pair pass out at the 

 top? 



Mr. Lewis. If you hold a match up to the chimney you can tell 

 which way the current is. 



Member. How many apples will a cave that size hold? 



Mr. Lewis. AA^e have this in bins. AA^e grow quite a number 

 of varieties. AA'e pile them 8 feet in bulk. AA'e put in the side bins, 

 the kinds we know we are going to keep the longest. By being very 

 economical in space it will hold 7, 500 bushels. 



C. J. Tyson. AA^hat do you think of the attitude of the con- 

 sumer to help himself out by taking fruit direct from the grower? 

 Are they inclined to do it? 



