Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1917-08-24
HUGE APPLE CROP
This Years Harvest viii b
Picked by Volunteer
Laborers.
Government Food Administrator !,
Aided by Local Bodies in All
Parts of the Country.

laDor situation this year. Throuchor.
the nation state councils of defanso
commercial organizations, wonan,s
clubs and other pubiic-spirited nersono
are organizing harvesting crews for
the big job. These crews are for tso
most part composed of young men ana
women intelligent and interested hnt
quite unfamiliar with fruit picking
Each grower should now get in to,,oh
with the chamber of commerce or
some other representative business or.
ganization in his nearest town ton
how many pickers he will need wban
he will need them, for how long and
what arrangements he can make for
housing or boarding them.
When his crew of volunteer n,ckoro
reports for duty he must open littla
school for 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 is a kind of work
that requires as much delicacy as gath.
ering eggs.
Let the grower tell his pickers how
the skin of an apple, or any other kind
| of fruit or vegetable, is like the fin
that protects canned goods. AS the tin
that incloses can of tomatoes guards
the sterilized contents from the air.
and as even a slight pinhole in this tin
would allow the air to enter and carry
germs of decay, so the skin of an
apple protects it's flesh, which is Der.
fectly sterile, and the least cut, even
dent made by a finger nail, allows
germs to enter and start decay. A cut
so tiny that it can only be detected
under the microscope at picking time
will, nevertheless, start germ inva.
sion which will show up later 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
an apple and give it the skiIlful twist
that separates it from the tree He
must caution them against dropping
the apples carelessly 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 be
managed along somewhat different
lines in many sections. With crew
of trained pickers and packers It is
customary to grade and pack much Of
the fruit as fast as 1t comes from the
trees. There will probably be a 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 for
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 1t con-
tains vegetable heat just as an animal
has animal heat, and as the carcass OF
an animal will spoil after killing IN
less 1t is properly cooled, so fruit VIII
spoil unless cooled. With tight shed'
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 be opened at night to ADMIT
plentiful currents of cool air. anu
when the sun comes up and the OUT
side air grows warm again this storage
place should be closed to exclude tIi0
warm outer air as much as possIOie,
and keep the fruit nicely cooled. II
apples are handled in this simple anu
sensible way they will have priine
keeping quality and the work OF sFar
ing and packing can be postponed lol
several weeks.
There is a fairly large apple crop
throughout the country this year Il
amounts to about two bushels Tor e''
cry man, woman and child in the on','
ed States. From the consumers si"HI
point 1t is important to have as uluOt
of this fruit as possible go TO ln"lA'
in first class condition, so that II nag
help us conserve wheat, meat, fats anu
other staple foods for our allies, rou.
the producers standpoint it Is lusl a.
important to harvest the crop III ''o
best condition because the size OF ou.
apple crop this year is such tha' oH''
the best fruit will bring good prices
Road to Strength.