500 
The RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
March 22, 1921 
Belated Lesson from the Apple Show 
T HE article by S. P. Hollister, on page 207. is line. 
Every fruit grower should read it. think and 
ponder over it, and then repeat the process. 
AN ADVERTISING SUCCESS.—As a first at¬ 
tempt at advertising the Eastern apple, I consider 
the Eastern Apple Exposition was a success. We can 
make the next one better, because we know a little 
more what should be done. There seemed to be as 
many fruit growers in attendance as there were city 
people, which was a very good thing. If they kept 
Nctv Form of Petunia. Fig. 160. See Page 5<R 
their eyes and ears open they learned a lot: enough 
to have made the show worth while, if not a single 
consumer attended. 
THE BARREL PACK.—Let us take first the ques¬ 
tion of packing. Mr. Mallott, a fruit grower and 
banker of Spokane. Wash., said to me: “You Eastern 
growers are to be complimented on your exhibits 
here. I never realized you could grow such highly 
colored fruit or so le ge. But. you have a lot to 
learn about packing." There were as many varieties 
of packing as there were varieties of packages and 
varieties of fruit. There is no standardization as 
yet in the packing of fancy table apples, such as 
the Western grower uses. As Mr. Hollister says: 
“. . . the average Eastern grower is not yet 
awake to the fact that he must get his fruit before 
the consuming public in an attractive package, and 
that the fruit in the package should be delivered in 
good condition.” In other words, give the consuming 
public what they want, not what we want them to 
ii.' .... 
have. By consuming ^ublic I refer in this case to 
the average small store that handles in the aggregate 
the bulk of the fruit. They do not want the barrel, 
and yet we make them take it, or go without. They 
usually go without, and buy Western box apples in¬ 
stead. The barrel is too large a quantity for a 
small dealer to handle. The barrel bruises the fruit 
more than almost any other package. There is no 
numerical count, and there are usually several differ¬ 
ent grades in one barrel. These dealers do want a 
box or similar small container. Why do not we give 
it to them? The only excuse I heard at the Apple 
Show was expressed by a member of the Western 
New York Co-operative Association, who said. “It is 
too much trouble.” 
GRADING PAYS.—Here is an experience that I 
have had in Albany. N. Y. Tree-run apples, with the 
cider apples taken out, were sold with difficulty at' 
$2.25 per barrel for the fruit. Certain stores would 
not consider my apples at all. So I graded the ap¬ 
ples, getting approximately 50 per cent fancy and 30 
per cent “A” grades, and packed in Western box 
style. The same stores that turned me down before 
jumped at the chance to get New York Baldwins at 
$2.50 for the fancy and $2 for the “A" grade. Did 
it pay? 
SMALL CONTAINERS NEEDED.—Another ex¬ 
ample: Four years ago I was started in a “direct-to- 
consumer” trade by an apple campaign started by a 
New York newspaper. Out of 40 or 50 who started 
the same as I did, only two or three are left, and I 
believe that I am the only one who has consistently 
kept at it. I started with the bushel as my smallest 
package. I found that only a small number re¬ 
ordered. because the bushel was too much for them 
to use, in the two to four weeks that the apples 
would keep in a heated apartment. Half-bushel 
boxes and 12-quart baskets have been tried, and now 
I am going to use a compartment box, holding 20 to 
30 apples. I have found out that the smaller the 
package, the greater the number of orders. This is 
giving the consumers what they want. 
INJURY IN PACKING.—From time to time we 
see articles in the metropolitan press about New 
York apples, and most of them “knock” the grower 
or packer of these same New York apples. We all 
know that the majority of growers try to put up an 
honest pack. Of “stove-piped” or “deaconed” barrels, 
there are not 1 per cent of the total. Why the uni¬ 
versal complaint then? Because of the change in the 
fruit itself between the time we put it in the con¬ 
tainer and the time it is opened by the small dealer 
or consumer. This change is illustrated by the fol¬ 
lowing experience at the Apple Show: A barrel of 
extra fancy show McIntosh apples was opened, and 
the face was fine. No one would ask for any better. 
The second layer showed bruising, and by the time 
the middle of the barrel was reached the apples 
looked like a lot of rotten spotted windfalls. Just 
bruising, from pressure in putting in the head, or 
rather bottom. Not one-third of that barrel of 
choice apples were nice enough for anyone to put on 
their sideboard. This was a typical example of the 
wrong kind of package for that variety of apple, and 
also for that grade of apple, no matter, what the va¬ 
riety. These bruises were a quarter to half an inch 
deep, and very dark brown. They certainly resem¬ 
bled rotten spots, but there was no rotting as yet. 
But the tender skin and juicy flesh could not stand 
the pressure. That night I went to a fruit dealer 
and explained my errand, lie let me unpack several 
boxes of Western apples. The largest bruise I could 
find on a Western Spitzenburg was larger than a half 
dollar. On cutting it open, the bruise was light 
brown and less than an eighth of an inch deep. The 
tougher skin and lack of juice enabled the Western 
apples, even after being packed probably six weeks 
A <w liegonia Fran Helen Harms. Fig. 167. See gage 504 
and shipped across the continent, to stand up and 
appear attractive. At the Apple Show I saw good 
apples, except for the bruising, thrown away by those 
who were given a New York Spy or Baldwin or Mc¬ 
Intosh to try. because tbe bruised spots looked like 
rotten spots, and they didn’t want to eat rotten ap¬ 
ples. Out of dozens of packages that I examined at 
the Apple Show, of many varieties, there was no va¬ 
riety that I found exempt from bruising, except 
when packed in compartment boxes, such as used by 
AY. II. Hart of Poughkeepsie and Mr. Brush of Ger¬ 
mantown. The Apple Show was supposed to be of 
commercial packs and commercial packages. I do 
not believe there were four exhibits there that could 
be called commercial packs. The rest were show 
packs. Mr. Sapiro hit the nail on the head when he 
said “The show is fine, but you growers cannot live 
up to it.” Probably not 10 per cent of our apples 
grade as well as those exhibited. Yet we have plenty 
of grades just under that show grade that would 
readily sell at a good price if properly packed in a 
proper and attractive package of smaller size than a 
barrel. f. w. wardle. 
Greene Co., N. Y. 
A Useful Hay Rack 
I NOTICE call for plan for hay rack. I use several 
hay wagons at haying time, and have devised a 
rig that is quickly converted. I make a body out of 
spruce plank that goes on the 4-ft. bands of a regular 
lumber wagon. 4 ft. wide and 16 ft. long, using three 
3 by S in. by 16 ft. and two 2 by in. by 16 ft., with 
suitable crosspieces to hold it together; 2-in. stake 
irons 2 ft. apart around the outside allow me to put 
in stakes, making a stake body if wanted. 1 also 
have side boards made on stakes, so that the flat 
body can be converted at will into a box body to 
haul stovewood. sawdust or anything calling for a 
box body. 
For hay I build a rack of 2x4 in. spruce that will 
fit right on the flat body, held from sliding off by 
short stakes in the stake irons, and if land is rough 
by a binding chain. * 
The conveniences of this rig are many. By re¬ 
moving tbe body and ail, you are ready to load lum¬ 
ber. logs or poles or such, without the necessity of 
hauling a body, thereby being able to haul more pay¬ 
ing load. By putting on the flat body you only have 
to lift that at one time, and if all you need is the 
fiat deck, that is ready. By inserting the stakes in 
the stake irons you have a stake body. By removing 
the stakes and substituting the side boards you have 
a box body, and by removing them and putting on 
the hay rack, which is really quite light, you are 
ready to haul hay. I make mine so the stake irons 
are all in register with each other, so that one set 
of side boards will fit any wagon, so I can have side 
boards for different purposes, and they are very 
handy. I have one set that is just high enough to 
hold 140 cu. ft., and I fill that with stovewood and 
sell it as a cord, that being a fair allowance to make 
for voids, when selling stovewood thrown into a 
box. 
1 also have bolster springs that can be put under 
the body, which converts my lumber wagon into a 
spring wagon to haul apples or anything that re¬ 
quires to ride easy. 
This wide rack is great when using a hay loader. 
But if you use a grapple fork, look out that you do 
not put it up in the hay mow. j. l. d. 
Maine. 
Upper Connecticut Valley 
EOPLE are beginning to realize the great beauty 
of the upper Connecticut A^alley as a place of 
residence. Of course the natives and their friends 
have always known the joy of living among these 
hills, but only in recent years have outsiders come 
to consider it. The modern car has carried thou¬ 
sands along the beautiful river, and its image re¬ 
mains with them. Farming in this rough section 
is a full man’s job, though most farmers are reason¬ 
ably prosperous—but the section seems to have a 
great future as a place of residence for about eight 
months of the year. There is to be in the future a 
more rapid system of private transportation than we 
have yet known, and business is likely to be handled 
so that a large class of workers may have country 
homes at some distance from their business. This is 
likely to help build up the Connecticut A’alley above 
Side View of Hag Rack. Fig. 169. 
Springfield until there will be found a long stretch 
of buildings and little towns nearly to the Canada 
line. We think part of the definite growth of New 
England will be in this clean and open section. 
When the peat swamps of New England are devel¬ 
oped for fuel the Connecticut A’alley will be one of 
the first sections to feel the effect of the substitute 
for coal. This section has retained some of the best 
habits and traits of the old-time Yankee. 
