The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1912-10-02
GATHERING FRUIT.

This is one of the important mat
ters that is looked forward to with
pleasure as well as anxiety. There
are different methods of gathering
as well as different classes of people
to gather. Some are careful hand
ling the fruit with as much care as
though they were so many eggs; an
other class are careless and indiffer-
ent as to the condition of the fruit
and will crowd anything in the bar
rel and / am sorry to say this care
less and Indifferent method of grad
ing and packing and losing sight of
the golden rule, Do unto others as
you would have others do unto you,
county fruit bad reputation.
We may learn to judge the ripe
ness of the large fruits such as ap-
plies and pears by observation and
experience. When ready to be pick
ed they will have attained their full
size; they will lose some of their
greenness and assume the more
delicate tints we observe in the ripe
fruit but the best practical test is
the ready separation of the stem
from the branch. In those fruits
which are suspended by stem.
This organ belongs to the fruit itself
and is intimately connected with it's
tissues. We will find that it parts
readily from the branch at that per-
iod of ripeness when it is best to
separate it. When a pear is ripe it
parts easily without breaking the
stem by taking hold of the fruit and
turning it around one-fourth of a cir
Gle. Some fruits attain their highest
degree of excellence by leaving them
hang to the tree until the texture of
the fruit is soft. These varieties of
fruits are best when consumed in
the immediate neighborhood for If
picked in this condition and are to
| be conveyed to distant markets they
arrive in such bad condition as to
render them unfit for consumption.
| Such fruits as soon as separated
| from the branch start in a process of
decomposition and soon decay. The
| peach is a fair illustration. AL
| though peaches are now raised in re-
mote sections hundreds of miles from
market they are picked as soon as
they have attained size and the first
| indication of ripening They are
packed and at once placed in re-
! frigerator cars and shipped by fast
freight. They then arrive at their
! destination in fair condition.
Some apples and many varieties of
pears are often much improved by
a continuation of ripening after they
are gathered. Some of the summer
varieties it is true will ripen while
attached to the tree but in most in
stances II left too long on the tree
they become over ripe and lose
their juiciness and become mealy
and rotten at the core. Clapp's
| Favorite, a fine juicy pear, when
picked at the proper stage and ripen-
ed in suitable place, will be worth.
less If left to hang until they gel
yellow, therefore it is advisable
with nearly every variety to pluck
them little prematurely. In this
condition they can be handled with
less bruising which impaires theil
keeping qualities. The finer red
Winter apples we wish to have their
brilliant color as fully developed as
possible and a few days in the fall
with frosty nights and hot sun,
shinny days adds considerably to the
attractiYeness of the apple and de,
tracts nothing from the keeping
qualities. The flavor is also percep
tibly improved as We invariably FIND
the well-colored specimens are als(
more highly favored than thos'
lacking color w. II. BULLOCK.