Norwich bulletin., 1916-10-26
AGRICULTURAL INTERESTS
HOW TO STORE APPLES.
Fruit Should Be Free From Disease
 and Should Be Packed Carefully.

Several orchardists in the county are debating whether or not they should store their fruit Countless | others have already decided to store 1 theirs. The following suggestions are taken from a bulletin issued by the | Washington state experiment station. Immature, partly -coIOred fruit is l poor in texture and quality, tends to wilt and scald, and seems to offer lift | tie resistance to decay. Overripe fruit | tends to mealineSs and physiological disintegration. warm summer and fall tends to overmaturity and poor | keeping unless the fruit is picked and 1 stored promptly. OVcrgrown fruit | lacks frmn=ss and does not keep so well as medium sized firm textured | apples. Better keeping quality re- l suits if the fruit is left until it is well grown and fully coIored, but still
 firm. This is known as the hard-ripe stage. The seeds are brown, and the stems tend to separate readily from the fruit spurs in picking. When va
 rieties of different season are grown, it is customary to pick them in order of maturity. If the late ones are wantedA for storage it is sometimes necessary to depart from this order for the purpose of securing such ap-
 ples at the proper stage to keep well.
 The earlier sorts are then picked and
 disposed of for immediate use.
 'NTuch deterioration in storage is
 due to injuries received in the pre-
 liminary handling. Skin punctures
 are more. serious than simple bruises,
 as the latter tend to dry down unless
 storage experiments skin punctures
 were found to be the most fruitful
 cause of decay, followed closely by
 disease infections, after which came in order, stems pulled out, bruises and insect injuries
 Care should be taken to store only
 such fruit as is free from disease. Perfectly clean fruit from well-man- aged orchards is likely to giev the
 best results Spraying may therefore be of value in preventing loss in storage by eliminating worny and in- fected fruit, as well as in warding off
 attacks of disease and insects in the
 orchard. Finally, it should be em- sound fruit of high grade. Unsound
 or inferior fruit, if it does not rot,
 often fails to pay the storage charges and competes in the market with bet
 ter fruit, lowering the price of all.
 Care should be taken in picking
 not to pinch the apples sufficiently to leave fndented hngermarks. The fruit should never be removed from the
 tree by 8 straight pull, as this tends to pull out the stems or break off the fruit spurs. Do not throw the fruit into the picking utensil or pour care
 other As soon as the apples are picked place them in the shade of the tree until they can be drawn to | the packing house or temporary stor-
 age.
 'The ordinary apple box is a. very satisfactory package in which to store apples. It's small size allows the fruit to cool off quickly and uniformly; it is easy to handle, economical of space, and the fruit is not apt to work loose as a result of shrinkage. A closed package tends to check evaporation and prevent wilting, though it may 1 slightly retard the cooling of the fruit Very tight packing is not advisable as some of the apples are likely to be