MARKETING BARRELED APPLES 13 
or Arkansas compared with New York or Michigan, and the time 
varies from a few days to a week, from year to year, according to 
weather conditions. Grimes Golden and Jonathan are harvested 
mostly in the first two or three weeks of September; York Imperial 
and Yellow Newtown most actively the last two weeks of that month. 
The principal Baldwin season is the last three weeks of October in 
the Northeast, and the same season includes the other important 
winter varieties of that region, although Northern Spy, Rhode 
Island Greening, and Northwestern Greening begin a little earlier 
and Ben Davis and the Russets a little later than the Baldwin. In 
the Middle West most of the Ben Davis and Gano are picked during 
the last week of September, the first and sometimes the second week 
of October, the season beginning September 25 in Arkansas and 
ending October 20 in Illinois. In the Potomac Valley region the 
Ben Davis is harvested the first three weeks of October and in the 
Northeastern States during the last three weeks of the month. Wine- 
sap is gathered mostly the first three weeks of October. Stayman 
Winesap is ready a few days earlier than Winesap; Arkansas and 
Willowtwig end the harvest season in the Middle West, and are 
picked from October 15 to November 5. 
PICKING 
Too early picking is at the expense of size and color. Picking too 
late impairs shipping and keeping quality and increases risk of loss 
by blowing off or freezing. At the picking stage the apple shows 
bright, attractive color, separates easily from the twig, and the seeds 
are ripening as shown by their darker color. Growers begin a little 
ahead of maturity and rush the work in order to average about right 
and avoid danger of an early freeze. When apples begin to fall off 
easily the tree should be picked. Pickers use stepladders and pointed 
ladders for moderate heights. Wide-based ladders narrowing toward 
the top are preferred for higher trees, and sometimes extension ladders 
are used for the very high work. Canvas picking sacks hung from 
the shoulders are in rather general use, Henouel the half-bushel 
baskets hooked to the ladder or to branches are in favor in some 
districts. 
Experienced orchardists supervise the picking closely because of 
the temporary helpers employed, who are likely to bruise the apples 
or damage the trees. Time required varies greatly according to age 
of trees, size and set of the crop, nature of the land, and whether the 
work is day or piece work. Probably 10 to 25 barrels a day is a fair 
general estimate for experienced men in the eastern apple region. 
As few as 5 barrels may be a day’s work among aged trees with a light 
crop, but 40 barrels a day may be picked in a well-laden young 
orchard, where much of the crop can be gathered without ladders. 
The better orchardists require the fruit to be emptied carefully 
into boxes, crates, or barrels, under the trees. (Fig. 5.) Sometimes 
the pickers reject the culls when picking and emptying the fruit, thus 
obtaining an ‘‘orchard run”’ product without further sorting. More 
commonly the sorting and grading is done over a portable table or in 
the packing house. Fruit softens and sunburns if left long exposed 
after picking. It should be moved along promptly until shipped or 
stored. 
