The Portland daily press., 1880-10-22
Gathering Apples.

Farmers having large orchards will proba
bly, find the present month the busiest Octo-
ber of their lives. The crop of apples, tax
ing the country at large, was n yer so great
In quantity or so good in quality. The har-
vesting and marketing of this abundant ap-
pie blessing will tax the energies of the most
energetic. 1t is hard work to climb among
apple trees and pick fruit all day, though it
seems very easy to the looker-on. Whether
hard or easy depends much on how it is
done. There is a tact in apple picking as in
all other kinds of labor. If one holds his
basket in one hand, picks with the other,
and cllngs to the limbs of the tree with the
neither limbs of lis body, he will be more
tired at night than if he had followed ad
old-fashoned harrow all day. The true
way to pick apples is to attach the basket to
the rounds of the ladder to some limb,
by means of stout wire bent in the form
OF the capital letter S. For picking from
the lower branches, use ste. ladder. For
picking from the higher branches long
ladder will be required, and as most of the
best fruit grows on the top and sides of the
tree, there is little necessity for climbing
among the interior branches of the tree.
Among tall trees a double ladder, that is,
ladder so fixed that it will slide up or
down at the will of the apple picker, is a
great convenience. With these aids and
with proper expertness twenty barrels of ap-
pies may be harvested by one man in a day
with less fatigue than clumsy hand will
experience in picking half that quantity.
Merriam's maxim, "Get the best,' is of
very general application, but is especially
applicable to this years abundant apple har-
vest. Whoever puts into his barrels apples
small, bruised, knottyor wormy, may in
crease the quantity five per cent, but will
injure the sale fifty per cent. The purchas-
er will be sure to see a specimen of this in
ferior fruit, and will condemn the whole lot
as second-rate. There sh uld be no second
rate fruit sent to the market this year. 1t
will not pay the transportation. Feed all
the Inferior apples to stock, or make them
into cider, jelly, or sauce. 1t is mistake
10 suppose that large, fair fruit makes the
best cider. Kansas and California apples
are large and fair, but California cider is in
ferior TO that of New England. Strange as
1t may seem, the SMALL Seeding apples for
merly raised in such quantities in the older
States, made better cider than our Baldwns
and Pippins. Many apples should be dried
in this year of plenty, and it'll the modern
improvements for peeling, slicing and dry
ing, we hope to see much of this most
wholesome fruit laid up for future wants
Paper bags make the best possible storage
for all kinds of dried fruit.
With all the expedition possible in the ap-
pie harvest it is probable that much fruit
will be left to perish on the ground, as the
supply is evidently beyond profitable de-
mand, though the foreign market is absorb
ing large quantity. Farmers living at
distance from railroads, or on road with
out competition, and which crarges monop-
oly prices for transportation, will not find it
pay to employ expensive help in harvesting
apples; but rather than let fruit rot they
should turn in stock to harvest it. Sheep
and swine will do the harvesting for their
damaged if they have previously been fed on
moderate rations of apples. Apple-fed NUT
ton and pork will be found of first quality.
Nor should horses and cows be deprived of
their share of the apple harvest, though
these animals are more liable to hurt them
selves with surfeit of this .fruit.-Mass.
Ploughman.