Apple Growing Part 6

TIME OF SPRAYING.--Fortunately it is not necessary to make a separate application for each insect and disease, but they may be treated together to some extent. In most cases expediency demands that the a.r.s.enicals be used with the fungicides. Many growers are finding the most satisfactory results, however, from applying the a.r.s.enical spray separately, just after the blossoms fall, because of the physical impossibility of properly applying the two sprays--the driving and the mist spray--together. For most practical purposes on the general farm, three sprayings are necessary in order to secure clean fruit and four, sometimes five, are often advisable. These may be summarized as follows:

1. With lime-sulphur, winter strength, on the dormant wood in early spring.

2. With lime-sulphur and a.r.s.enate of lead just before the blossoms open (may sometimes be omitted).

3. With the same (or Bordeaux for scab) just after the blossoms fall.

4. With the same two or three weeks later.

5. With a.r.s.enate of lead eight or nine weeks later (may sometimes be omitted).

(In the south and middle lat.i.tudes where bitter rot and apple blotch occur two other sprayings may be necessary.)

6. With Bordeaux about eight or ten weeks after the blossoms fall.

7. Again with the same about two weeks later.

A Calendar for Spraying Apples

--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+-------+---------+---------- INSECTS Nature Before Before After In 2 In 8 Materials of Leaf Flower Petals to 3 to 9 to Injury Buds Buds Fall Weeks Weeks Use Open Open --------+--------+--------+--------+--------+-------+---------+---------- Codling Eating x x x Lead Moth Worm a.r.s.enate or Par. Gr.

--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+-------+---------+---------- San Jose Sucking x Lime Scale Insect Sulphur --------+--------+--------+--------+--------+-------+---------+---------- Oyster Sucking x Lime Sh.e.l.l Insect Sulphur Scale --------+--------+--------+--------+--------+-------+---------+---------- Blister Leaf x Lime Mite Miner Sulphur --------+--------+--------+--------+--------+-------+---------+---------- Plant Sucking when seen Whale Oil Louse Insect Soap or Tobacco --------+--------+--------+--------+--------+-------+---------+---------- Cigar Eating x x x Lead Case Insect a.r.s.enate Bearer or Par. Gr.

--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+-------+---------+---------- Apple Eating x x destroy fruit Lead Maggot Worm a.r.s.enate or Par. Gr.

--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+-------+---------+---------- Bud Eating x x x Lead Moth Worm a.r.s.enate or Par. Gr.

--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+-------+---------+---------- Curculio Eating x x Lead Worm & a.r.s.enate Beetle or Par. Gr.

--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+-------+---------+---------- =Diseases= --------+--------+--------+--------+--------+-------+---------+---------- Apple Fungus x x x x if Lime Scab necessary Sulphur or Bordeaux 3-3.50 --------+--------+--------+--------+--------+-------+---------+---------- New York Fungus x? cut out Lime Apple infections Sulphur Tree Canker --------+--------+--------+--------+--------+-------+---------+---------- Leaf Fungus x x x Lime Spot Sulphur --------+--------+--------+--------+--------+-------+---------+---------- Sooty x x x Bordeaux Blotch Mixture and Lime Sulphur --------+--------+--------+--------+--------+-------+---------+----------

CHAPTER IX

HARVESTING AND STORING

Apples are practically never allowed to ripen on the trees but are picked and shipped green. By "green" we mean not fully ripe, not ripe enough to eat out of hand. This is necessary for all fruit which is to be shipped any considerable distance or which is to be stored. Used in this sense green has no reference to color, but as a matter of fact, much of our fruit is picked too green, before it has even reached its full size and is well colored. There is no exact time at which apples must be picked, but this depends on many factors such as the variety, the distance to be shipped, the soil, the climate, and various other conditions, to say nothing of seasonal differences.

The time at which any variety should be picked in a particular section will be learned by experience. In general, apples should be left on the tree as long as possible in order to get the best size and color.

When the apples begin to drop badly it is a pretty sure indication that it is time to pick. If the fruit is to be sold in the local market or for immediate consumption, it may be allowed to get riper than would otherwise be the case. With most varieties one picking is sufficient, but in the case of varieties like the Wealthy which does not ripen uniformly, or like the Twenty Ounce, which does not always color evenly, two or three pickings should be made. Two or three pickings are practically always necessary where fancy fruit is desired, in order to get the ideal size, color, and uniformity.

LADDERS.--There are two general types of picking ladders, the rung and the step ladders. For large trees the rung ladders are the best. They may be obtained in lengths to suit the height of the tree. Lengths of more than twenty-two or twenty-four feet become too heavy and clumsy to handle, even when made of pine, which is the best material as it is light and strong for its weight. In very old, high trees extension rung ladders are sometimes used. They are also useful for interior work but are heavy to handle. Rung ladders cost from ten to twenty cents a running foot. Step ladders are useful only on young and small trees. The two styles, the three (j.a.panese) and four legged, are both quite satisfactory where one can reach the fruit from them.

Receptacles for picking usually hold about half a bushel. Both baskets and bags are used, some preferring one and some the other, and a choice between them is merely a matter of personal preference. There is a little less liability of bruising the apples in bags than in baskets, but the latter are more convenient in some ways. Fruit should never be thrown or dropped into a basket but always handled carefully.

Some varieties, as McIntosh, show almost every finger mark and literally require handling with gloves.

HANDLING.--The old custom of picking and laying on the ground in the orchard is a poor one and should not be followed, as it causes unnecessary handling and bruising. Moreover, fruit should be packed and hauled to storage as soon after picking as possible. Picking and placing directly on the packing table from which the apples are immediately packed is the best plan where it is practicable, but as the weather at picking time in the Eastern States is frequently quite uncertain, it is not always possible to follow this plan as closely as can be done in the West, where dry air and sunshine prevail. Still, wherever there is a considerable quant.i.ty of fruit and several pickers, the plan of packing directly from the table is best. Many growers pick in boxes and barrels and haul the apples to a packing shed to be packed later. Convenience and expediency must govern the general farmer who is not always at liberty to choose the best plan, often having to do as he can.

PACKING TABLES enable the grower to pack his fruit better because he can see better what he is doing, and to handle the fruit more cheaply and quickly and with less injury. They should be portable so that they can be moved about the orchard. A convenient type has one end mounted on wheels so that it can be pushed from one place to another. The top of the table should be made of two strong layers of canvas, one tacked firmly to the framework of the table with about three or four inches of dip and the other laid loosely over it. This plan provides a soft resting place for the fruit and the table can be easily cleaned off by simply throwing back the upper layer of canvas.

Three feet six inches is about the right width for the table, and the same sloping to three feet four inches at one end, is the correct height from the ground. Most packers like to have this gradual slope to one end so that the apples will naturally feed toward that end. The length may be anything up to eight or ten feet, beyond which the table becomes heavy and unmanageable.

BARRELS.--The standard apple barrel adopted by the National Apple Shippers' a.s.sociation and made law in New York State has a length of stave of twenty-eight and one-half inches and a diameter of head of seventeen and one-eighth inches. The outside circ.u.mference of the bilge is sixty-four inches and the distance between the heads is twenty-six inches. It contains one hundred quarts dry measure. The staves are mostly made of elm, pine, and red gum, and the heads princ.i.p.ally of pine with some beech and maple. In most apple growing sections barrels are made in regular cooper shops where their manufacture is a business by itself. Only the largest growers set up their own barrels. Practically all barrels are purchased "knocked down" and it costs from four to six cents each to set them up. Barrels can ordinarily be purchased for about thirty-five cents each, but the cost varies somewhat with the season and the region.

Apple packages should always present a neat, clean, and attractive appearance. Never use flour barrels, soiled or ununiform barrels of any kind. If a head cushion is used a good deal of waste from the crushing and bruising of the fruit will be saved. A head lining of plain or fringed paper also adds much to the attractiveness of the package. The wrapping of apples for barrel packing is hardly advisable. The fruit is pressed into the barrel tightly with one of two types of presses, both of which are good.

The lever press is more responsive and the pressure is more easily changed, but it is harder to operate. The screw press distributes the pressure more evenly with less injury to the fruit and is more powerful.

The steps in properly packing a barrel of apples are: First, see that the middle and closed end hoops are tight, if necessary, nailing them and clinching the nails; second, mark the head plainly with the grade and variety and the name of the packer or owner; then place the barrel on a solid floor or plank and lay in the facing papers (the face end being packed first); select the "facers," which should be the best representatives of the grade being packed, and _no others_, and place them in two courses in regular order stems down; with a drop handle basket fill the barrel, using care not to bruise the fruit, and jarring the barrel back and forth on the plank as each basket is put into it in order to settle the fruit firmly in place; lastly, arrange a layer of apples stems up and apply the press, using a hatchet to get the head in place and to drive on and tighten the hoops.

THE BOX PACKAGE is rapidly growing in favor, especially as a carrier of fancy fruit. There is no standard box the size of which is fixed by law unless it be a box labeled a bushel. But two sizes of boxes are in common use, both probably being necessary on account of the variation in the size of different varieties. The "Standard" box is 10 by 11 by 18 inches inside measurement and contains 2,173.5 cubic inches (the lawful stricken bushel is 2,150.4 cubic inches). The "Special" box is 10 by 11 by 20 inches inside measurement and contains 2,200 cubic inches. The bulge when properly made will add about 150 cubic inches more, making the two boxes hold 2,323.5 cubic inches and 2,350 cubic inches respectively.

Spruce is the most reliable and in general the best material. Fir is sometimes used, but is likely to split. Pine is good if strong enough.

The ends should be of three-quarter-inch material; the sides of three-eighth-inch, and the tops and bottoms--two pieces each--of one-quarter-inch material. There should also be two cleats each for top and bottom. The sides of the box should be nailed with four, preferably five-penny cement-coated nails, at each end. The cleats should be put neatly on each end and four nails put into them, going through into the top and bottom. Boxes commonly come "knocked down" or in the flat and are usually put together by the grower. They cost from ten to thirteen cents each in the flat.

There are several kinds of packs, depending on the size of the apples and the choice of the grower. The diagonal pack with each apple resting over the s.p.a.ces between others is preferable, but on account of the size of the apples one is often forced to use the straight pack with the apples in regular right angle rows for some sizes. The offset pack, first three (or four) on one side and then on the other, is very much like the diagonal, but not much used on account of its accommodating too few apples in a box. The following table gives the packs, number of rows, number of apples in the row, box to use, and number of apples used to the box, as used at Hood River, Oregon:

No.

Size expressed apples No.

in No. apples in layers in Box per box Tier Pack row depth used -------------------------------------------------------------------- 45 3 3 St. 5-5 3 Standard 54 3 3 St. 6-6 3 Special 63 3 3 St. 7-7 3 Special 64 3 2-2 Diag. 4-4 4 Standard 72 3 2-2 Diag. 4-5 4 Standard 80 3 2-2 Diag. 5-5 4 Standard 88 3 2-2 Diag. 5-6 4 Standard 96 3 2-2 Diag. 6-6 4 Special 104 3 2-2 Diag. 6-7 4 Special 112 3 2-2 Diag. 7-7 4 Special 120 3 2-2 Diag. 7-8 4 Special 128 4 4 St. 8-8 4 Special 144 4 4 St. 9-9 4 Special 150 4 3-2 Diag. 6-6 5 Standard 163 4 3-2 Diag. 6-7 5 Standard 175 4 3-2 Diag. 7-7 5 Standard 185 4 3-2 Diag. 7-8 5 Special 200 4 3-2 Diag. 8-8 5 Special

It is good practice to wrap apples packed in boxes. For this purpose a heavy-weight tissue paper in two sizes, 8 by 10 and 10 by 10, according to the size of the apple, is used. A lining paper 18 by 24 in size and "white news" in grade is first placed in the box. Between the layers of apples a colored "tagboard" paper, size 17 by 11 or 20 by 9, according to the box used, is laid so as to make the layers come out right at the top. In packing the box is inclined toward the packer for convenience in placing the fruit. After laying in the lining paper each apple is wrapped and put in place. As an aid to picking up the thin wrapping paper a rubber "finger" is used on the forefinger. When the box is packed the layers should stand a quarter to a half inch higher in the middle than at the ends, in order to give a bulge or spring to the top and bottom which holds the fruit firmly in place without bruising.

There has been much discussion as to whether the box or the barrel is the better package for apples. This is needless, for as a matter of fact each is best for its own particular purpose. The barrel is best adapted as a package for large commercial quant.i.ties of fruit and where labor could not be had to pack apples in boxes even if the trade wanted them. The barrel permits the packing of a greater variety in size and shape than does the box, and these can be more easily and cheaply handled in packing.

On the other hand, the box is the ideal package for small amounts of fancy fruit, to be used for a family-or fruit-stand trade. It presents a neater and more fancy appearance and is a more convenient package to handle, as well as one which is more open to inspection. It already has a better reputation as a quality container than the barrel. As a fancy package for a limited private trade from the small general farm orchard with high-cla.s.s varieties like the Northern Spy, McIntosh, and others there is no comparison of the box with the barrel.

STORAGE.--Car refrigeration and cold storage of fruit are comparatively modern developments. Few persons who have not been affected directly realize what a tremendous influence they have had upon the fruit, and particularly the apple industry. Apples could not be shipped any very great distance. Crops had to be marketed immediately and when they were large the markets were soon glutted and the fruit became almost valueless. The first hot spell would demoralize the trade altogether. Then later in the season the supply would become exhausted and famine would ensue where but a few weeks before there had been a feast. Under such conditions it is not surprising that the apple industry did not develop very rapidly and that apple growing was mostly confined to areas near the larger markets.

The coming of the refrigerator car extended fruit-growing over a much wider area. Refrigeration on shipboard opened up and enlarged the export trade. Cold storage warehouses lengthened the season by holding over the surplus of fruit, thus relieving fall gluts in the market and providing a winter supply of apples. These conditions created a more stable market with more uniform prices, extending the business from a side issue to one of chief importance. Marketing has become almost a business by itself, inducing the formation of growers' a.s.sociations and creating a profitable occupation for large dealers and commission men. These conditions, too, have led to speculation.

Two kinds of storage are used, common or cellar storage and cold storage. Both are about equally available, but the latter is too expensive for the small grower. There is always a question as to the advisability of the small grower storing his fruit. Storage means a degree of speculation. "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,"

especially when the bird is a good one. So far as rules can be laid down, the following are pretty safe ones to keep in mind: It is safest to store apples when they are of the highest quality; in a season most unfavorable to common storage; when the fewest are being stored; when the price in the fall is medium to low, never when high; and when one can afford to lose the whole crop.

Successful storage requires several things: good fruit, stored immediately after picking, careful sorting and handling, subsequent rest, and a reasonable control of the temperature. The functions of storage are to arrest ripening, r.e.t.a.r.d the development of disease, and furnish a uniform, cold temperature. Storage of apples does not remedy over-ripeness nor prevent deterioration of already diseased, bruised, or partly rotted fruit. There are three general methods of storage: (1) by ventilation, (2) by the use of ice and (3) by mechanical means.

Cooling by ventilation offers the most practical system for a farm storage. It requires that there be perfect insulation against outside temperature changes, adequate ventilation, and careful watching of temperatures. To provide for good insulation a dead air s.p.a.ce is necessary. This can be secured by a course of good two-inch boards with one or two layers of building paper inside and out, over a framework of two-by-fours. Over the building paper tight, well matched siding should be laid also inside and out. Two of the dead air s.p.a.ces will make insulation doubly sure.

To provide for proper ventilation construct an intake for cold air at the bottom, and an outlet for warm air at the top of the room. These should serve all parts of the room, one being necessary for this purpose every twelve to sixteen feet. Do not depend too much on windows. Warm-air flues should be twelve inches square and six to twelve feet long.

The attention to such a house is most important. Keep it closed tightly early in the fall with blinded windows. When nights get cool open the doors and windows to let in cold air, closing them again during the day. On hot days close the ventilators also. In this way a temperature of 36 to 40 degrees Fahr. can be secured in early fall and one of 32 to 33 degrees Fahr. later. This is probably the cheapest as well as the most practical method of farm storage.

Ice storage is quite practical in the North, but more expensive. The principle of such a storage is to keep ice above the fruit, allowing the cold air to flow down the sides of the room. A shaft in the middle of the room will serve to remove the warm air. This method is open to the objection of difficulty in storing the ice above the fruit.

Moreover the uniformity of its cold air supply is questionable.

Mechanical storage in which cold temperatures are secured by the compression or absorption of gases is altogether impracticable for individual growers, as it costs from $1.50 to $2.00 a barrel of capacity to construct such a storage. Rents of this kind of storage range from 10 to 25 cents a barrel per month, or 25 to 50 cents a barrel for the season of from four to six months.