The Nevada County picayune., 1917-08-30
HUGE APPLE CROP
This Years Harvest Will Be Picked by Volunteer
 LaborerS.
Government Food Administration Is Aided by Local Bodies in All
 Parts of the Country.

The great apple crop of 1917 will be harvested in most sections by Noiuh- teer pickers. because of the peculiar labor situation this year. Throughout .he nation state councils of defense commercial organizations. women clubs and other public-spirited persons are organizing harvesting crews tor the big job. These crews are for the most part composed of young men ana women intelligent and interested but quite unfamiliar with fruit picking.
 Each grower should now get in touch with the chamber of commerce. or some other representative business or ganization in his nearest town tell how many pickers he will need. when he will need them. for how long, and what arrangements he can make for housing or boarding them.
 When his crew of volunteer pickers reports for duty he must open q little school fo, day or two. and give them practical instruction in their new work. Many of them perhaps have never climbed into an apple tree. and even those who have may not understand that apple picking k q kind of work that requires aS much GelicacY aS gath ering eggs
 Let the grower tell his piekers how the skin of an apple, or any other kind of fruit or vegetable. iS like the tin that protects canned goods. A the tin that tncIoses can of tomatoes guards the sterilized contents from the air and as even slight pinhole in this tin would allow the air to enter and carry germs of decay. so the skin of an apple protects its flesh, which is per fectly sterile. and the least cut, even Il dent made by finger nail, allows germs to enter and start decay. cut so tiny that it can only be detected under the microscope at picking time will nevertheless, start a germ inva sion which will show up ater when the apple is packed and put into stor- age.
 For this reason great care must be taken in picking fruit. The grower should show their pickers how to grasp
  that separates it from the tree. He must caution them against dropping the apples carplesSly in the boxes and baskets and see that they have pick ing baskets and field boxes which are free from splinters and nails.
 This years crop will have to he managed along somewhat different ~:,t, of trained pickers and packers t is customary to grade and pack much of the fruit as fast as it comes from the trees. There will probably be short age of packers and many growers will have to devote all their efforts to pick ing the crop and getting it into tempo rary storage first. and then packing it later.
 More good apples are spoiled every year by carelessness between the time they are picked and the time they are packed than in any other way. Fall nights are cool, but fall days are apt to be warm Apples are left in the or chard several days and alternately cool and heat with the changes in tenn perature until their quality deteri- crates. The proper way to care fer apples is to put them into common storage as soon as they come from the tree, Almost any good tight building will answer for the temporary storage needed between picking and packing.
 When fruit leaves the tree it con tans vegetable heat just as an animal has animal heat. and as the carcass of an animal will spoil after killing un- less il is properly cooled. 50 fruit will spoil unless cooled. With tight she'd into which fruit can be carried direct from the orchard the grower can use the cool nights of autumn to take the heat out of his fruit Doors and win dows of the temporary storage shed should toe opened at night to admit plentiful currents of cool air and when the sun comes up and the out. side air grows warm again this storage place should he closed to exclude the warm outer air aS much aS possible and keep the fruit nicely cooled. If apples are handled in this simple and sensible way they will have prime keeping quality and the work of grad ing and packing can he postponed for several weeks,
 There k q fairly large apple crop throughout the country this year. It amounts to about two bushels fer ev- cry man woman and child lu the Unit cd States, From the consumers stand point il k important to have as much of this fruit as possible go to market in first class condition, So that it may help us conserve wheat. meat fats and other staple foods for our allies, From the producers standpoint it k just as important to harvest the crop in the best condition because the size of our apple crop this year is such that only the best fruit will bring good prices
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