The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1909-03-20
THE APPLE-BR0KER.

When the first cool days OF Septem-
Der send city people home ready for
work, then begins business among
the orchard owners of New England
of which the casual summer visitor
has little knowledge.
The apple brokers' busy days have
come, and expert apple e-pickers, with
long ladders, small baskets and bar
rels, appear in all the orchards, and
spread over the trees with the persist
ence and industry of an invasion of
browntail moths.
Each band of these workers is
headed by responsible and capable
man, secured by the apple-broker be-
cause of his knowledge of the apple
market, his reliability, and his gift
of managing men. This boss is fur
nished by his employer with numerous
directions, among which are small
slips of paper which read something
like this:
Before October Ist, gather Mrs.
Browns Orchard. Pound Sweetings
London.
Ben Davis Boston.
Blake's Orchard.
Early Baldwins-New York.
Yellow Stock--San Francisco.
The boss understands by this list
that the pound sweetings are to be
gathered with unusual care. No
rough shakings of the branches on
which this fruit grows. A careful
man, with small basket swung over
his shoulder, goes up the ladder.
Every apple is clipped from the bough,
placed in the basket, and when the
basket is moderately full, the man de-
scends. These applesare each wrapped
in tissue-paper and put in boxes,
much in the same way that California
oranges are packed to sendeast Then
a card is tackled on the box, marked,
"Mrs. Browns Pound Sweetings,
100, London" and the boss makes
similar entry in the little account
book, which, at the end of each week,
he hands over to the apple broker.
The real business of the apple brok-
er, however, begins in midsummer.
If you are in an apple country, CEN
trail Massachusetts,, or near Mercer,
Maine, and are an observing person,
you will notice now and then keen
faced, capable-looking man driving
about the country roads, talking with
the owners of orchards and carefully
examining the lf-grown fruit.
The man is generally a resident OF
anapple-growing district. He knows
the history of every orchard, how old
the trees are, the quality of the fruit
grown, the owner of the orchard, and
how to deal with him.
1t is in midsummer that the bar
gains are made. The apple broker
buys the crop. By SO doing he as
sumes a considerable risk. There
may be, even after midsummer, too
much rain, too much heat, visitation
of the dreaded apple worm, in fact,
any one of dozen possibilities may
ruin the product of an orchard and
spoil the brokers' profits; while the
farmer, with a round sum deposited
in the savings-bank, thanks his stars
that he sold his apples in July.
The apple broker has no leisure on
his hands. Barrels and boxes are no
small thing to be considered when you
are TO harvest the orchards of six or
seven townships. Now and then the
enterprising broker starts cooper
shop and box mandatory of his own
near the town where the most fruit is
raised and here, during July and
August, dozen or more men work,
busily turning out barrels and boxes
which will be sent to the uttermost
parts of the earth filled with the pound
sweetings or the firm, fragrant Bald
wins of New England.
But the cooper shop is not the only
dependence of the apple broker for
barrels. Early in the spring he begins
a canvass of the country. His team
stops at farmers house.
Good morning, Mrs. Smith - he
calls to the pleasant-faced woman at
the door. ''I hear that you make
such good bread that your husband
has lot of empty -four barrels.
"Now Mr.. Perkins?" chuckles the
nleased housewife. "The idea
guess it's Jim's appetite that keeps
the four-barrel empty"
"Got a good many empty barrels,
eh?" questions the broker.
Gland, mol There may be two or
three out in the she'd"
"I'll give you fifty cents for the
lot, Mrs. Smith, without counting
'em," declares the willy trader, hand
somely. Mrs. Smith is willing, mods
her consent, receives her piece of sill
yer, and sees three empty barrels
loaded on the back of Mr.. Perkins S
wagon. Hehas made good bargain.
In September less careful buyers will
pay thirty cents apiece for all manner
and kind of barrels. From house tc
house he goes, securing one barrel
here, three or four there, until his
sheds are filled with barrels, and he
can look forward to the harvest with
out apprehension
When the bosses bring in their lit
tie account books for the final reckon
ing, the broker knows just where he
stands. His bargains with distant
buyers were made long ago. Hs
marks his boxes and communicate:
with his shipping-agents.
But his day of leisure is not yet
He goes from orchard to orchard
looking into barrels, climbing a tre'
now and then, urging on his employ
es, that an untimely frost may DO
find his fruit ungathered, and so ruiz
him. From town to town he hastens
sending load of barrels here, start
ing off a promised order there.
The orchards of northern Main
offer a more difficult problem to tn
apple-broker than do those of Massa
chusetts. Often the matter of trans
portation becomes serious because
| +La distance from railroad stations