The Dermott news., 1917-08-30
HUGE APPLE CROP
This Years Harvest Will Be Picked by Volunteer
 laborerS.
Government Food Administration 10 Aided by local Bodies in All
 Parts of the Country.

teer pickefS. because of the peculiar labor situation this year Throughout the nation state councils of defense. commercial organizations women's clubs and other public-spirited persons are organizing harvesting crews for the big job. These crews are for the most part composed of young men and 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 little school for q 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 kind of work that requires as much deiieaey as gath ering eggs.
 Let the grower tell his pickerS how the skin of an apple. or any other kind of fruit ar vegetable. Is like the tin that protects canned goods. As the tin that incloseS T can of tomatoes guards the sterilzed contents from the air, and as even q slight pinhole in this tin would allow the air te enter and carry germs of decay. So the skin of an apple protects it's flesh. which Is per ! fectly sterile. and the least cut. even dent made by finger nail, allows germs to enter and start decay. A cut so tiny that II can only be detected under the microscope at picking time will. nevertheless start germ inya- sion which will show up later when the apple Is packed and put into stor- age.
 For this reason great care must he taken in picking fruit. The grower should show their pickerS how to grasp an apple and give II the skillful twist that separates II 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 1t is customary to grade and pack much of the fruit as fast as t comes from the trees. There will probably be n short age of packers. and many growers will have to devote all their efforts to pick ing the crop and getting if 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 ehard several days and alternately cool and heat with the changes ill tenn perature until their quality deteri crates The proper WHY to care for apples k 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 il con tains vegetable heat just as m animal has animal heat, and aS the carcass of an animal will spoil after killing un- less it Is properly cooled. SD fruit will 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 ar, and when the sun comes up and the out side air grows warm again this storage place should be 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 is fairly large apple crop throughout the country this year. It amounts to about two bushels for ev- cry man. woman and child in the Unit ed States. From the consumers stand | point 1t is important to have as much of this fruit as possible go 10 market In first class condition. so that 1t may | help us conserve wheat, meat. fats and other staple foods for our allies. From the producers standpoint 1t is 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. |
 Road to Strenuth.