II 
Published by 
The Rural Publishing Co, 
333 W. 30th Street 
New York 
The Rural NewYorker 
Weekly, One Dollar Per Year 
Postpaid 
Single Copies, Five Cents 
The Business Farmers Paper 
- "'D O'' 
H 1 J ^ ^ ‘ V., 
VoL. LXXVI. 
NEW YORK, OCTOBER 19. 1917 
No. 4451 
The Story of a Day 
On a Dutchess County, N. Y., Fruit Farm 
ARLY CTIORRS.—An artivo day on an apple 
farm characteristic of the season immediately 
precedinc: the heavier business of the apple harvest 
is hereby portrayed. At about six o’clock two of 
the re,i?ular men livinj? in houses on the place and 
employed by the year arrive and proceed to care for 
the horses, clean and fee<l them and clean up the 
stables, milk one cow and feed piars and chickens. 
At seven fonr other helpers, men rej^nlarly employed 
for the most of the year, come along. Tf there is 
an.v unfinished work about the hams some one helps, 
and assists in getting the teams ready, if needed. 
Another takes the cow to pasture and returns to 
the house to do a few bits of morning work, always 
something, such as getting in a suppl.v of firewood, 
disposing of rubbish accumulations, setting things 
in order—uiion order, and executing requisitions on 
the vegetable garden for dinner supplies, etc,, and 
must also get, at this particular time, a liberal sup¬ 
ply for the da.v of frozen fodder with large unriponed 
ears of corn for the pigs. The other imm are ready 
on arrival for the 
business of the day, 
and it is at that time 
up to the boss to be 
also ready with well- 
formulated plans, and 
he generally is. INIany 
emergencies arise 
and quick changes 
sometimes have tc 
be made. 
APPLE PACKING. 
—This day. Sept. 19, 
we are to start pick¬ 
ing Greening apples. 
Six new men who 
are to help for the 
whole picking season 
are on hand. We are 
disappointed in not 
being able to go at 
once to the orchard 
on account of exce.s- 
sive dew; the trees 
are literally dripping 
with water, and such 
has been the case for 
several mornings. 
We must wait; it 
will never do to pick 
and handle nice frnit 
while wet, iinless we 
are extremely 
rushed; it becomes 
dirty and dull, and 
is not nearly as presentable in a package. Having 
from the previous day a suppl.v of apples in the 
packing-house that must be graded and gotten into 
shipping form in barrels and baskets, we have im¬ 
mediate use for our regular packers and add to the 
force one or two of the ne\v men who know our way 
of doing the work, having had experience of previous 
year.s. 
FILLING IN USEFUL TIME.—As already re¬ 
marked, a business farmer must be prepared to 
meet eveiy condition, and cannot allow loss of time. 
We must have a list of jobs ready for such times. 
The lawn needs mowing; there is more than an 
acre of it, and two or three of the men who are 
supplied with foot rubbers will find opportunit.v foi* 
activity at this .fob. We have to dig and clear 
away sods and Summer growth from the apple trees, 
a circle five or six feet in diameter around every 
tree; this furnishes an excellent chance to iise to 
good advantage an hour or two of waiting for the 
sun and wind to dissipate the dew. There may be 
neetl of hauling a load or two of manure. Some¬ 
one can be delegated to help on that job. An apple 
tree needs bracing to prevent it from bi‘eaking be¬ 
cause of an extra burden of fruit. A fence may need 
a little mending. Some of the picking baskets may 
require fixing; we have corn and buckwheat to cut, 
thougli tbis year it is nearly spoiled by the fi*ost of 
Sept. 10—no. we must not think of this, it is too wet, 
and we Avill leave it for another opportune time. 
There'are a hundred things, and it must be quickly 
and deftly decided how to place men to the best ad¬ 
vantage. and give to each the task for which he is 
best fitted. This is not a small accomplishment on 
the part of the boss if it be well done. 
IN THE I’ACKING HOUSE—This morning three 
men mowed lawn, a couple dug about the trees and 
the rest were in the packing-house. We have also a 
woman helper at the packing table, the wife of one 
of our men, and she is doing most efficient work. 
We have not started the machine grader and are 
doing hand sorting. We finished working up a 
splendid crop of Wealthy apple.s packing them in 
bushel hamper baskets in three sizes, and they 
should make a good appearance in market. Much 
of the finish work of inspection and arranging the 
faces presentably before covers are fastened on falls 
to the writer—from choice. Two of the team men 
have been helping to close and mark the packages. 
The loads are ready, the teams are brought forward 
and we keep the t,il’.,>'. making recoi'd of number, 
marks and varie'.ii's. The frnit is >ei:t to the Hud¬ 
son River boat landing to be conveyed to New York. 
It costs us from 10 to 12 cents jier barrel to convey 
apples to the dock with teams. 
STARTING IN THE ORCHARD.—The dew has 
sufficiently scattered at S..‘>0 to start picking. A m.an 
is delegated for the day to use a team in conveying 
barrels to the orchard, to l)ring them in when filled, 
and to help pick when not driving. We are sending 
ont six pickers. We allot tliem suitable ladders and 
good baskets, and go to the orchard. All necessary 
instructions are given as to what trees to pick and 
how the fruit must he handled. Some of the men 
know all about it fi-om having worked with us in 
previous years. The orchard foreman is not in 
evidence today. He is to come in a few days in the 
person of the son, who is returning from his honey¬ 
moon trip in the full flush of happiness, enthusiastic 
in the idea of doing h'ls full part and full of plans 
for the future. We do not know what the war has 
in store for him. Myself back to the packing-house 
‘■plugging” barrels of graded apples preparatory to 
placing in the heads. This is a most particular job. 
It is the mo.st essential part of good packing to have 
the barrels filled precisely right, and it takes consid¬ 
erable experience to become expert at this work, so 
that no looseness will develop and not too many 
fruits become bruised. 
YISITORS.—It is now 10 o’clock; a brief look ut 
the important headings in tlie “Tribune,” just at 
hand in the mail box. Some visitors arrive; they 
Avisli to look about the orchard, to see apples growing 
and being handled. We must give them every at¬ 
tention, and are always pleased to do it. We have 
a nice driveway encircling the orchaTd. It is inter¬ 
esting to an.vone to drive through a well-cared-for 
orchard at fruiting time, and we are glad to be able 
to give this pleasure. We have to answer a ’phone 
call. We must call in a man to send him on a short 
errand. We “watch the pack”; a high standard 
must be maintained, but we have skilled helpers. 
Our “Hank” and Fred and Billy have long experi¬ 
ence. It is more difficult to get a good pack this year 
on account of hail marks on some varieties. The 
Greenings are free and clean. It was the early soft 
kinds that suffered most from a severe hailstorm in 
.Tul.y, and the Baldwins were damaged on the north 
side of the trees. A business caller arrives, a com¬ 
mission man who wants to buy or get consignment'^. 
There are many of them. We give them every pos¬ 
sible courtes.v, and are forced to explain to them that 
it is not to our interest to change our plans. Out to 
the orchard : ovcmw thing going well. Again, the pack¬ 
ing-house and bu.sy. 
Then a visit from 
“the missus”. She 
looks intei’estedly 
about, and before 
leaving renews a re¬ 
quest that the Gladi¬ 
olus be gathered. 
This matter can no 
longer be deferred, 
and it has got to 
be personally done. 
Some new kinds are 
flowering for the first 
time, and need lal)el- 
ing. We have some 
fine varieties. They 
are perfectly wonder¬ 
ful flowers, and rich¬ 
ly pay for their care. 
Why not right here 
put in a plea to the 
editor that he allot 
some part or all of a 
page of The R. N.-Y. 
to floriculture? Many 
of us are Avanting it. 
THE NOON HOUR. 
■—Well, it’s noon ; 
“time, noon,” one of 
the men quaintly re¬ 
marks, and everyone 
scatters for dinner, 
some to their homes; 
others have their 
pails with them. Business ceases for an hour, though 
not fully so Avith the bos.s. Duidng the interval, be¬ 
sides dinner there is ’phoning to do. The mail is 
looked over, replies Avritten to some of the letters, 
a little further look into the daily papers, hoping to 
see the Avar skies brightening, a little thought given 
to the details of the afternoon’s work, and out again 
for a neAv start. 
SEEDING WHEAT.— The wheat sowing can no 
longer be deferred; this afternoon the chance offers, 
as our two men, Ed and Curt, will not haul apples. 
One takes a last load of manure for top-dre.ssing and 
then starts harroAving to freshen up the soil, which 
has been already well preparetl by frequent culture, 
a strong application of lime, several loads of manure 
and a spreading of ashes distributed from the place 
Avhere a large brush heap Avas burned on same plot. 
There is something less than two acres, and it is in¬ 
tended for Alfalfa next year after the Avheat. Tlie 
other team man, Ed, is appointed to do the drilling, 
and he is going to do it AA’ell, because he knows hoAv. 
In the interests of maintaining our agricultui-e and 
producing an ade(iuate supply of food, for which all 
the Avorld is reaching out, it is to be hoped that the 
gOA'ernment Avill not too strongly push the policy of 
taking aAvay from the farms our efficient Avorkers, 
of whom there are altogether too few men who have 
technical skill to do our work. We cannot possibly 
How the Wealthy Apple Grows. Fig. 533 
