Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1901-10-24
APPLE HARVEST.
Points In Picking and Packing Fine
Canadian Apples.


Winter apples may be left on the
trees until there is danger Of injurious
frost. In large orchards it is necessary
to begin picking in good season, and
the different varieties will have to be
taken in succession, beginning with the
early winter sorts and those varieties
which drop easily. An apple before
being picked should have it's seeds al
most mature and have taken on most
of its color. AS seasons vary consider
ably, judgment has to be shown as to
the best time to gather the fruit 1t
often happens that good crop of ap-
pies of the best quality is ruined by
improper picking or gathering.
Winter varieties appear so hard when
they are picked that one might be led
to think little careless handling
would have no injurious effect upon
them, but this is not the case. Apples
are easily bruised, and some varie-
ties much more easily than others.
When an apple is bruised, its appear
ance is often spoiled for the home mar
ket and its shipping qualities very
much lessened for the export trade.
The bruises of some varieties, while
disfiguring the fruit, do not cause the
apple to rot rapidly. On the other
hand, there are many varieties which
will rot rapidly when once bruised.
Bruises may be avoided by careful
handling, and nothing should induce
the practice adopted by some people of
shaking the apples from the trees.
There are many kinds of receptacles
for picking apples in, but half bushel
baskets are about as convenient and
satisfactory as any. They should be
lined with some soft material to pre-
vent bruising, as too much caution can
not be taken in this regard. The stem
should remain on the apple, as II
broken off decay is more likely to set
in. The fruit may be either sorted i'm
mediately OF taken to a storehouse and
done at some future time. Many OF the
best growers sort and pack in the
orchard, and certainly the fruit has
much less danger of being bruised If
treated in this way. A sorting board
covered with some soft material Is ar
ranged at a convenient distance from
the ground on which the apples are
emptied from the baskets and sorted
into three grades-irsts and seconds in
baskets, and culls thrown to one side.
Machines for grading and sizing fruit
have been used for this work in recent
years, but unless the fruit is free from
scab or codling moth the hand will
have to be used also.
The usual practice is to face the end
of the barrel with two layers of apples
placed neatly and tightly in it with the
hand. These should be a fair sample
of the kind of apples which are in the
middle of the barrel. The other apples
are now gently emptied out of the bas-
kets into the barrel, and the fruit is
made to settle down by rocking the
barrel from time to time. This is a
very important factor in successful
packing. The last row of apples should
come slightly above the heading groove.
The apples are pressed into place by
means of a lever and a circular band
lined with felt just fitting the barrel
until the top boards can be fitted in.
If the apples have been we'll shaken
when being put into the barrel, very
little pressing is necessary. = W. Z,
Macoun, Experimental Farms.