1912. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
869 
NOTES ON FRUIT PICKING. 
We usually begin picking our apples 
the last week in September; ours are 
chiefly Winter varieties. We use one- 
half bushel oak stave baskets; these 
with ordinary care will last two or more 
seasons. It is difficult to get pickers 
to handle them carefully enough; espe¬ 
cially is this the case with the Albe¬ 
marle. A very slight bruise wili soon 
turn into a black place and a possible 
decay. The apple is grasped rather 
firmly in the hand and not pulled off, 
but raised and bent back, as it were, 
on the stem. This will almost always 
bring the stem with the apple. We do 
not like to have the stem pulled out of 
' the apples. We use various forms of 
ladders; step-ladders and a long ladder 
with a leg, that will keep the weight off 
the tree. Then for high trees we use 
a long ladder, 25 to 35 feet; this is 
placed against the limbs. We employ 
girls as well as men for picking, and 
some of them do good work on the 
ground and on the step-ladders, our 
trees are headed low, and now it is a 
problem to keep the apples off the 
ground. We sometimes pack in the or¬ 
chard from a table. Then we put our 
barrels in the orchard; these are filled 
and hauled to a packing shed, using a 
low wagon with springs. They are 
afterwards sorted and packed in bar¬ 
rels or boxes. We have done very little 
box packing, but some put up this way 
have brought a good price. They were 
wrapped in a special paper with name, 
etc. Our society (the Virginia Horti¬ 
cultural) is arranging to have several 
packing schools this Summer in the 
different fruit sections. We expect to 
employ expert box and barrel packers 
to teach our people better packing. 
Virginia. samuel s. guerrant. 
Learn to Pick by Sight. 
First handle all fruit carefully. Do 
not bruise it. Second, do not throw or 
toss fruit. Third, do not pinch fruit to 
see if it is ripe enough to pick, but if 
you must a slight squeeze near the stem 
should be the limit. Fourth, learn to 
pick by sight, viz., learn to distinguish 
fruit that is ripe enough for your mar¬ 
ket. Fifth, do not pull fruit that hangs 
tightly to a tree in a line with the stem, 
but lift or turn the fruit in another 
direction. Sixth, use thumb or fingers 
to break stem clean from tree where 
necessary. Apples, leave stem on fruit 
and pick so as not to leave stems or 
leaves on fruit. Pears, always lift fruit 
and leave entire stem unbroken. 
Peaches, for our local markets we pick 
when fruit is so nearly ripe that the 
stem parts easily from the tree and does 
not show a square break, viz., the size 
of stem where united to tree. For long 
distance shipping this would not apply. 
Plums, pick when ripe enough so stems 
will not cling to fruit. They should 
part easily from stem. Cherries, leave 
stems on fruit. H. o. mead. 
Massachusetts. 
Apples that drop on sod mulch are 
practically uninjured. On this account 
we leave the apples before picking until 
they part very readily at the stem; a 
slight turn of the hand gets them. Our 
instructions to pickers are to use care 
not to break the stems of fruit spurs or 
limbs. If we find one who persists in 
being careless he helps to draw down 
the fruit to the packing house. 
New York. grant g. hitchings. 
How to Pick Fruit. 
Fruit for local market should get 
about all its growth and its best color 
before it is picked, except some pears, 
which must be picked rather green and 
ripened. To pick apples one should 
take hold of the fruit so the thumb and 
fore finger reach up to the stem and 
give a lift or turn to make the stem let 
loose from the twig. If one pulls on 
the apple it often breaks off the twig 
with the fruit, thereby taking the buds 
for the following year’s crop. If the 
first turn or lift does not loosen the 
fruit, turn it the other way and then 
back, and it will come off if it is ripe 
enough to pick. Tt should be laid in the 
basket carefully so as not to bruise it 
and always handled with care. Cush¬ 
ions or papers should be placed in the 
bottoms to prevent bruising. Summer 
apples for local markets should be 
picked as they ripen, going over the 
trees twice a week, but if they are to be 
shipped so as to be on the road sev¬ 
eral days they will need to be picked 
somewhat green and they will ripen on 
the way. They should be loaded in re¬ 
frigerator cars and iced so they will 
keep cool. In a common box car in hot 
weather the heat will almost cook fruit 
if it is out in the hot sun manv days. 
As to picking peaches, there is no stem 
that a person can take hold of to break 
off, but the twig will come off with the I 
peach if one pulls back toward the main 
branch. With one hand a person can 
often hold the twig and hold the peach ! 
with the other, moving it back and forth ! 
till it lets loose. If for local market it i 
should part from the twig readily and 
pull out clean from the seed, but if 
picked rather green some of the woody 
part of the stem will stick to the seed. 
Where one is close to market they 
should be allowed to grow as long as 
they will stay on the trees and take on 
a beautiful finish, which adds quite an 
item in the price, both as to size and 
color. * u. T. cox. 
Lawrence Co., O. 
The exact time to pick apples would 
depend largely upon the variety and-the 
distance they had to be shipped- to mar¬ 
ket. I prefer to let apples get as near 
ripe as possible before picking, as the 
flavor and color will be much better 
and the fruit can be removed without 
breaking off the buds and destroying a 
part of next year's crop. I always try 
to impress upon my pickers the neces¬ 
sity of taking hold of the apple with the 
whole hand and then give it a slight 
turn which will break it from the tree 
nicely. If one takes hold of the apples 
firmly with the fingers and then press 
the fruit hard enough to loosen it- al¬ 
most every apple will be marked, and 
on many of our tender varieties the 
finger prints turn black and ruin the 
fruit, giving it the appearance of wind¬ 
falls. Too much care cannot be exer¬ 
cised in the picking and handling of ap¬ 
ples. In regard to, peaches my experi¬ 
ence has been quite limited. I sell to ; 
the local trade, and for that reason can ■ 
allow them to hang on the trees longer. 
If we desire flavor in peaches they j 
should not be picked until they come 
very easily from the tree, and then han¬ 
dle with the greatest of care and pick 
the trees over several times. 
New Jersey. john h. Barclay. 
SUGGESTIONS ABOUT WEIGHTS AND 
MEASURES. 
E. C. Moulton, the sealer of Genesee 
Co., N. Y., distributes a card on which is 
printed the following useful information : 
See that scales are balanced before put¬ 
ting load on them. 
Coal dealers must. furnish weight slip 
with eyery consignment of coal. 
Buy where they sell by the pound; you 
get more for your money. 
Two to one your bill don't mention the 
pounds, only the article. Ask the dealer 
why. 
Don't have the butcher trim so much off. 
He only sells it to the other fellow to be 
rendered. You have paid for it and you 
ought to have it for the cat or dog. 
Carton goods are clean, but did you 
ever weigh any of them ? 
Beans weigh one pound and 14 ounces to 
quart; cranberries weigh one pound to 
quart. 
Department of Weights and Measures, 
State of New York, number of pounds t<t 
the bushel. 
*•* * * When no special agreement is 
made by the parties as to the mode of 
measuring, the bushel shall consist of: 
Lime . 
70 
pounds 
per bushel 
( oarse salt . 
70 
“ 
»< << 
Wheat . 
60 
«< (( 
Peas . 
GO 
tt tt 
Potatoes . 
GO 
tt it 
Clover seed . 
GO 
*« 
it tt 
Beans . 
60 
4 * 
a tt 
Onions . 
»♦ 
.t it 
Indian corn . 
56 
<t tt 
Rye . 
56 
«t it 
I'Tne salt . 
56 
tt it 
Flaxseed . 
it it 
Sweet potatoes . 
*» 
“ tt 
Corn meal . 
*» 
it it 
Rye meal . 
50 
“ 
it it 
Carrots . 
50 
44 
it if 
Barley . 
48 
“ 
• t tt 
Apples . 
48 
It It 
Buckwheat . 
48 
it a 
Ilerdsgrass . 
45 
• t tt 
Timothy seed . 
45 
it a 
Rough rice . 
45 
“ 
tt a 
Sea Island cotton seed 
44 
** 
it tt 
1 )ried peaches . 
«• 
• i tt 
Oats . 
44 
it tt 
Upland cotton seed.. 
30 
it tt 
Dried apples . 
25 
44 
Bran . 
20 
ti ti 
Shorts . 
20 
4< 
•• “ 
(Section 8, Chapter 37 ( 
“* * * All commodities 
measure shall be duly heaped 
form of a cone.* * * as high 
modifies will admit. 
(Section G, Chapter 37G, Laws 1896.) 
Laws ISOG.i 
sold by heap 
up in the 
is the eom- 
"* * * When potatoes are sold by 
weight, the quantity constituting a barrel 
shall be 174 pounds. * * *” 
(Section 9, Chapter 37G, Laws 1896.) 
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