1904. 
TIIE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
795 
APPLE HANDLING IN CALIFORNIA. 
J. S. Woodward’s article on page 745 hits me just 
right, for we have been gathering some of our Winter 
apples the past few days, and while our crop of apples 
is a small one, still the manner of picking and handling 
INTERIOR OF SIIEEr BARN. Fig. 358. 
enters into the work the same as if we had a large crop 
to gather. On account of our mild climate it has been 
usually considered all right to store apples in any old 
place not needed for something else, and really it is 
quite wonderful how long they keep with such neglect. 
However, for several years past I have been taking 
better care of the Winter apples than formerly, and find 
that while the keeping season has not been changed 
perceptibly, the quality of the apples has been greatly 
improved. In picking apples we insist on just as careful 
handling as in picking'other fruits, and we find that the 
picking pail made of tin or light galvanized iron, hold¬ 
ing about 12 quarts, or nearly 20 pounds of apples, is the 
best vessel to pick in, and we use them right through 
the season for cherries, apricots, peaches, and even 
prunes. A pail of this size is not too heavy to handle 
even on high ladders, and it carries the fruit without 
bruising. Our plan for picking apples is to pick and 
sort into boxes in the orchard. If a number of pickers 
are at work then one or more men will do the sorting. 
As each picker fills his pail he carries it a short distance 
to the sorting station, and sets it down, taking an 
empty one and returning to his work. If more than 100 
feet away then each picker carries two pails. The 
apples are sorted out of the pails, and very carefully 
examined. The perfect apples go into one box, seconds 
into another and culls into another. They are then 
loaded on to a truck or wagon with springs and hauled 
to the house. A good sorter will keep pails empty for 
several pickers, all, of course, depending on the crop, 
size of apples, etc. 
Of late years I have been putting my Winter apples 
in redwood boxes, which when piled one on top of an¬ 
other five or six high, and close together, and then cov¬ 
ered with canvas or muslin, are in a condition to keep 
their flavor and juiciness a long time. Storing apples 
in boxes saves a lot of work in handling if they are 
to be examined or sorted during the Winter. The apple 
crop is short in California this year, and one result is 
that seconds, which usually go slow at 25 cents per box, 
now go quickly at 35 to 50 cents per box. A box of 
apples averages about 40 pounds. We sometimes allow 
pickers to pour peaches or apricots from the pails into 
the boxes, but draw the line at apples. 
Santa Clara Co., Cal. h. g. keesling. 
INSURANCE COMPANIES AND UNOCCU¬ 
PIED BUILDINGS. 
On page 760 mention was made of a legal decision in 
Pennsylvania." An insurance company refused payment of 
losses on a house which was burned while occupied because, 
at a previous time, it had been left vacant. According to 
this decision insurance may lie forfeited if at any time the 
house is vacated for 10 days. We have asked a number 
of insurance companies what they would do in such a case. 
To defeat a fraud any possible defense is permissible, 
but if no attempt at fraud is discovered no technical 
defense would be resorted to. This company would not 
consider farm property under any conditions. 
Pres. Union Ins. Co. c. s. holpinshead. 
The reference you make to a Pennsylvania court deci¬ 
sion on the question of unoccupancy is a new one to us. 
As to the position we would take in a case of this sort, 
we are unable to answer. Regarding farm property, 
there are no conditions under which we would consider 
the class a good risk, for we do not accept it at all. 
Sec’y Queens Ins. Co. N. s. bartow. 
1 have not seen the decision to which you refer. It 
would hardly be possible for me to pass an intelligent 
opinion upon it, but in our own practice we would not 
contest a case if the loss was an honest one in other 
respects under circumstances such as you indicate. The 
object of an insurance company in disclaiming liability 
where risk is unoccupied is because it is not then prop¬ 
erly watched and cared for, and if there was such a deci¬ 
sion as you state, it must have been predicated on the 
theory that a contract once voided could not be re¬ 
instated without consent to both parties. We will con¬ 
sider farm property a good risk when the rates are 
advanced about 100 per cent above those now prevailing, 
but our experience is that the present rates on farm 
property are not sufficient to meet the actual cost of 
carrying the business. b. r. stillman. 
Sec’y National Fire Ins. Co. 
We cannot recall that in our 52 years of experience 
we have ever had such a case as that to which you 
refer, so that the first inference is that the contingency 
is somewhat remote. We presume, however, that, as a 
legal proposition, it may be true that a contract once 
voided continues void unless restored by mutual con¬ 
sent of the parties interested. We are not versed in 
law, but that would seem to be a reasonable proposition. 
As a practical question, it is fair to assume that the 
average insurance company, even if they were not so 
inclined otherwise, would be constrained, as a matter of 
policy, to be fair, and even liberal, with the insuring 
public; and we should say that it is exceedingly improb¬ 
able that any first-class, reputable fire insurance com¬ 
pany would decline to recognize liability on the ground 
stated by you, unless there were other good reasons— 
such as supposed fraud. jos. m’cord. 
Sec’y Hanover Ins. Co. 
EXPERIENCE WITH SWAMP LAND. 
As I have had some experience with swamp land, 
perhaps it will not come amiss at this time, as I have 
been reading in The R. N.-Y. the article published on 
page 74G. I have about five acres of this land and the 
A PROMISING LAMB. Fig. 359. 
depth of the mud or peat is about the same as A. B.’s; 
although there are places much deeper. I have been 
cultivating this field now about 20 years. When I first 
bought it it iwas covered with High-bush blueberry 
bushes and pine trees; some of the trees were quite 
large. It had been partly drained, but the main drain 
was not deep enough, so I dug it about 2/ feet deeper. 
This land was all dug over with grub hoes and the 
pine trees were taken out root and branch. This dig¬ 
ging was done in the Winter and this is the best time 
to do it, after the top soil is frozen about two inches 
deep, for it will then break off in large pieces. Part of 
it was done when the snow covered it 15 inches deep. 
We shoveled back the snow and grubbed over what 
was uncovered, then shoveled more snow on top of 
what we had grubbed. As I make a specialty of grow¬ 
ing strawberries, as soon as the sod was rotted we 
planted it with strawberry plants and have had good 
results. We never applied lime on this land, but part 
of it w r as fertilized with wood ashes; most of it has been 
fertilized with horse manure. One year I tried an ex¬ 
periment by fertilizing half of my bed with wood ashes, 
and the other half with horse manure. The crop of 
berries was as good on one piece as the other: I could 
see no difference in the quantity or quality. After we 
have used it for strawberries for two years we sow it to 
grass. We keep it in grass a few years, then use it 
again for strawberries. Part of this land is tile-drained 
and the other part is open ditches. In a wet season we 
have had to use mud shoes on our horses’ feet to work 
on this land. We cut large crops of hay on this land, 
not only first but second crops. 
Massachusetts, s. h. warren. 
R. N. Y.—We should remember that a ton of wood 
ashes contains over 600 pounds of lime and 100 pounds 
of potash. The action of horse manure is alkaline, and 
it will partly sweeten a sour soil. 
WHAT IS A “NO. I” APPLE? 
Many thanks for the articles in recent numbers about 
harvesting apples. The commercial side of farming is 
too much disregarded in farm papers generally. But on 
the subject of packing methods, what do your corre¬ 
spondents mean by No. 1 apples? When I read of the 
orchard which produced only 10 per cent of twos and 
culls together I felt that somebody ought to move to 
make it unanimous! If No. 1 means the same thing 
with him that it does with us, he is lucky, or skillful 
beyond the dreams of a grower like myself, who has 
congratulated himself for a year on a lot that ran 60 
per cent No. 1. But then we put in the twos every 
apple with even one scab or wormhole. I never expect 
to see as few as 10 per cent of these in any orchard this 
side of Heaven! Personally I doubt the policy of being 
so particular. There is no difficulty in getting excellent 
prices for No. t of this kind, but it takes a Gatling 
gun to persuade anybody knowingly to buy a No. 2. 
We do not mark our No. 2 except with the name of the 
variety, and it is not unusual to get a letter from a cus¬ 
tomer who has been buying them that he wants some 
more “fancy apples, like the last,” but if you were to 
tell him that they were No. 2 he would promptly write 
back that he could not use them, for his customers 
wanted only fancy apples. I think a discussion would 
be in order in your columns as what system of grading 
is the best for the farmer. Of course in advocating 
a lower standard for No. 1 than perfection it is not in¬ 
tended to put apples in the market under false colors. 
There is no legal standard in this country, and every 
man may make his own definition. But every honest 
man will let the buyer know just what that definition is. 
We describe No. 2 simply as 2*4 inches and up in diam¬ 
eter, good color, free from rot or soft bruises or serious 
defects. a. a. b. 
North Carolina._ 
A PENNSYLVANIA FRUIT GROWER'S 
QUESTIONS. 
Have you ever experimented with mixing kainit with your 
stable manure? I do not regard kainit as the cheapest 
form of potash, but where I am using stable manure on my 
fruit trees I have found kainit an excellent article, making 
a compound of the same. 
Yes. It is good farming to use kainit on the stable 
manure, especially in fruit growing. Manure is low in 
potash, while fruits require large quantities of it. Kainit 
supplies this potash and also acts to preserve the am¬ 
monia in the manure. It is better for this purpose than 
plaster. 
Have you ever tried the experiment of pig pasturing any 
of your orchard? I have plenty of swill from a large gath¬ 
ering, and I have been keeping quite a number of pigs in 
a portion of my orchard there. I doubt if it would pay me 
to do this if I had to buy feed for them. I, however, winter 
six breeders, but I raise enough on my farm to carry them 
through the Winter. 
We keep from 20 to 40 pigs in the older orchards. 
Formerly we put rings in their noses; now we let them 
root. Each Spring we sow a mixture of Red clover 
and Dwarf Essex rape on the rough ground early while 
the ground is frozen. This makes a fair start, and by 
June is high enough to give some pasture. The pigs are 
turned in to eat it. Next year we expect to sow oats 
with the rape and clover. The pigs take care of the 
windfall apples. They should be fed grain enough to 
keep them thrifty, and fattened rapidly in the Fall. We 
are suspicious of swill from a large gathering of people. 
The washing powders are used to wash dishes. These 
will injure hogs if too much be used. The danger is in 
the liquids. The swill may be fed on the ground so 
that the liquids soak away into the soil. With good 
pasture and a fair amount of grain the pigs ought to 
pay a fair profit without the swill. 
I find that pigs In the Winter will eat cow peas fed to 
them dry just as readily as they will eat corn. 
We had the same experience with dry cow peas both 
with pigs and chickens. We think it pays better to soak 
or cook them before feeding. Why go to the trduble of 
A MODEL SHEEP BARN. Fig. 360. 
picking the cow peas? Why not let the pigs eat vines 
and all ? 
As the result of your experience, what do you regard as the 
most economical form of potash, where you are applying 
potash alone? 
We consider muriate of potash the most economical 
form. Kainit is better for use in the stable with the 
manure, and sulphate gives better flavor on crops like 
small fruits, potatoes or beets. For general purposes we 
use muriate. 
