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Show Horticultural Hints Picking and Storage of Apples During October When October is warm and dry it Is hard to tell when to pick apples. If gathered rat! or i;reen the fruit lias little flavor and soon wrinkles ar.d dries up. If we wait for real maturity we are likely to find more than half of It on the ground, as there is sure to be continued dropping even without many high winds. And so the season plays a sort of "heads I win. tails you lose" f::i!p with us. The thing to do, If possible, is to supply moisture to the trees during the last sis weeks of their fruit hearing. It will do wonders for the keeping qualities of the fruit, ss well as for its size and color. Whatever the season, the best indication indi-cation for picking time Is the coloring of the seeds. Do not wait till they are all darkened up, but pick when they are light brown all over. Even here there is a difference In varieties. The earlier the variety the lighter brown we should require of the seeds. Some sorting should be done at picking pick-ing time even for the home cellar. Wormy, bruised or scarred fruit should be put by itself and used up soon in some way or other. The perfect fruit may be kept by itself for two weeks or so. and then given a last careful sorting. Many defects that did not Ehow at picking will appear now, and if such are left with the perfect apples all will soon be in quick decay. The proper place to get the best out of the keeping quality of apples is one that is cool and moist. There is little danger of having the place too cold er too moist. The trouble Is that our cellars are so hot in early Octeber. The gTou"nd l'.as been absorbing heat all summer, and sometimes it is better to keep the apples til! freezing weather in a cool, shaded shed or outhouse that can be opened nights and closed daytimes. But we can do a good deal toward making our cellars fit by beginning some time before the apples are picked and closing them during the daytime and letting all possible night air through them. Never put apples in a cellar direct from the picking or sorting sort-ing stands. Let them stay out overnight over-night fuliy exposed to the sky and bring into the cellar the next morning before the sun has had a chance to warm them. In this way the fruit cools the cellar instead of warming it The house cellar at best is a poor place to keep apples. An outdoor cellar of some kind is a great improvement. improve-ment. In these days when almost everybody every-body understands how to use concrete it is no great thing to undertake one that may become a permanent improvement improve-ment for the place, one that will need no fire or tornado insurance and will be useful for storing many things besides be-sides apples. The Farmer. |