East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1906-08-31
HANDLING APPLES
WAY 1T is DONE IN
THE NEW ENGLAND STATES.
When the Fruit Is Ready to Pick
Should Be Taken From the Trees at
the Earliest Possible Moment
Should Be Thoroughly Cooled by u
Good System of ventilation-Orch-
ards Cleaned Up Every Night.

From the old-fashioned way of
gathering fruit and piling 1t in the
field or about the trees in the orchard
has evolved or is being evolved the
better and saner method of either
sorting and packing the fruit as soon
az it is taken from the trees, or of
taking ii directly to the storage house
as soon as 1t is gathered and there
after picking operations are over, to
be graded and packed at leisure. The
firts method has some advantages
but these are more than offset by
the disadvantages some of which are:
When the fruit is ready to be pick
ed every effort should be directed to-
wards getting it from the trees at
the earliest possible moment, as the
weather with us is very uncertain and
changeable at that season of the year,
and if one has to grade and pack at
the same time it would call for a
larger force to help than is usually
available, besides it would divide the
managers attention between the pick
ere and sorters.
The method of combining the
greatest number of good points and
advantages and the one dealers most
highly indorse is the one of picking
fruit and Immediately placing it in
storage, where It can be thoroughly
cooled by good system of ventila-
tion. This is the plan followed in
the harvesting of apples by most OF
the intelligent and progressive ORCH
ardists in New England. Personally
I believe that one of the essentials In
growing and marketing apples on a
commercial scale Is a storage build
ing of sufficient capacity to enable
one to conduct all operations with the
greatest possible dispatch and conven'
fence at a minimum of cost.
When picking time arrives we usu'
ally estimate our expected crop and
plan to have enough barrels to handle
the same. then all we have to do is tx
load the wagon with empty barrels
and draw to the orchard, and as soor
as the packages are filled. return then
to the storage. We mean to clean vi
our orchards every night, leavint
neither empty barrels or barrels fillet
with apples in the orchard. AS sooi
as all fruit is stored we begin sortini
and packing IL the crop is sold. I
no sale is made we simply turn ou
attention to other work which we ma,
have on hand, knowing that our frui
is as well cared for as 1t Is possibl
to have 1t and that the element o
shrinkage Is reduced to the very low
est point
In sorting we use table waist high
1B feet long by four feet wide, whicl
will accommodate eight sorters con
VeHiently. WIN tHis HutHDeT at III
table we usually have two men fac
ing and two men inspecting fruit a
It is run into the barrels. With thI
gang VIC can easily put up a carloa
a day, which with US Is 1s0 barrels
Our railroad station is only fe'
hundred yards from the storage hous'
the nearness Of which is great iter
of economy in marketing fruit.
The general practice among ou
apple growers is to sell their produo
at so much per barrel (. o. b. cars a
the nearest station. This method ha
the merit OF enabling the grower I
receive his pay for fruit before 1t
shipped and thus eliminate the dan
ger OF any misunderstanding wit
commission dealers. which sometime
has resulted In financial loss.