The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1906-11-24

barrel more, there remains but hfty
cents to pay for picking, sorting anc
barreling. IF the farmer does this bJ
hired labor he may clear ten cents &
barrel, or he may not. For Cathe.
rine, therefore, a crop Of seven OF
eight hundred barrels of apples or
the trees meant 1ittleif gathered, bar
relied and sold in the usual way.
"It seems shame" one neighboi
said to her, 'but it will be about as
we'll for you to let those apples har-
vest themselves.
Against such waste of natures
bounty, however, GATHERINGS New
England thrift revolted. She began
to look into the apple problem and
the result Of her study of 1t is worth
recording.
She purchased no barrels, and the
only help she hired was boy to push
wheelbarrow. She herself, with
Uncle Horace and Eunice, went out
to the trees to gather up the fruit.
The boy wheeled the apples in, two
bushels a load, and slowed them in
bins, built up in two rooms in the
house, where, later, they could be
kept from freezing by means of a
stove in the cellar beneath.
Catherine had thought this all out
in advance, and she had sent off for
four "evaporators, payment for
which used nearly all her remaining
money.
Carelessly dried apple, on strings,
brings no more than six or eight
cents a pound, but nicely sliced,
"evaporated" apple always commands
much better price. She had resol-
we'd to put that whole crop of Bald
wins into evaporated apple.
But to peel, slice and dry seven or
eight hundred barrels of apples is a
long task. It was in securing mex
pensive ''help" that Catherine prov
ed herself skillful organizer of labor,
as we'll as public benefactor.
In almost every rural neighbor-
hood, village or small town there is
sure to be some old "aunty," grand
ma" or widow in INDECENT circum-
stances, who has outlived the most
of her earthly ties, and must go to
the ''town farm," or subsist on suf-
ference with some grudging relative.
Life grows very dreary to these old
persons. There seems to be no place
for them. In cases where few hun
dred dollars can be raised for them,
they sometimes go to an "old ladies'
home"
Within three miles of the Edwards
homestead there were two of these
old souls, "Aunt Netty' Stiles and
"Grandma" Frost, who were by no
means helpless or feeble, but had
merely outlived theirwelcome on the
| earth.
Catherine first made the old farm
house dining-room cozy aud warm,
and then invited Aunt Netty and
Grandma Frost to come and sit with
her mother and Eunice and slice ap-
pies. She offered them seventy-five
cents week and board. Moreover,
she took them all into her confidence
and told them her plans for saving
the old homestead.
Uncle Horace peeled the apples on
a pairing machine, and the old women
sliced them. Their tongues ran ;
they were as clipper as crickets.
They had not had so good time for
years. Catherine had to look to it
that they did not overwork. They
produced more sliced apple than the
four evaporators would dry. Uncle
Horace had to contrive a fifth drier
over large stove out in the wood
house. Two more forlorn old women
from the town farm came on foot,
begging for work. They were
taken in.
Apple-drying went on from the Ist
of October till the middle of January,
and the whole crop was dried. Before
March rst Catherine had sold the en-
tire output at eleven cents pound.
The result was an object-lesson to
every apple farmer in that locality.
She received fifteen hundred and sixty
dollars; and owing to the skill with
which she had managed, the entire
expense of drying the apples were less
than hundred and seventy dollars.
There was also this other curious
result the old women did not want
to go home. In fact, the two from
the town farm cried when the last OF
the apples were cut.
Then Catherine determined to keep
them all over for the next season.
She bought lot of yarn and set them
to knitting socks and woolen gloves
In fact, she had started happy OLD
women's S home before she knew it
And the number of applications which
came to her from homeless old womer
and from those who had aged rela
tives on their hands whom they wish
ed to be rid of would have beer
laughable, if it had not been pathetic
But for the time being Catherine coulo
do no more than keep those whom
she had.
The year 1904 also proved to be at
apple year and again the whole croI
was put into evaporated apple, two
other old women having been admit
ted to the "circle of slicers.' -
By this time, too, Catherine hat
come to realize the possibilities of he
new business. All the apple tree
were carefully looked after, and tw'
hundred young trees set out. Sh
planted, too, a hundred and fifty plum
and pear trees, and an acre of black
berry shrubs /; for now her design wa
to make new venture, canning pears
plums and berries in glass jars. L
fact, it would not surprise me If
few years hence this neglected oil
homestead were producing five thous
| and dollars worth of fruit annually.