American Pomology. Apples

by J. A. Warder

From what has already been said with regard to the process of ripening of fruits in the natural way upon the tree, it will be understood that we must gather some kinds before they have reached their perfect condition of maturity. There is a point at which they have obtained, from their connection with the parent tree, all the elements that are necessary to the development of their highest qualities. They may now be separated, not only with safety, but with decided advantage in many instances, as they are improved by the further process of maturation under different circumstances from those supplied by nature, and when properly treated, they will acquire a much finer condition as to delicacy and flavor than is ever reached by ripening upon the tree exposed to the light and air. This, it will be remembered, is not the case with all fruits; for, as has already been stated, there are those which must remain upon the tree until they acquire their most perfect ripeness, and which begin to depreciate in quality so soon as they are separated from their connection with the fruit-bearing twig. These need to be at once disposed of, and the consideration of the best means of transportation, is a question of more importance than any plans for their temporary preservation. They must be sold or used at once, and should be handled with the greatest care, packed in suitable boxes or baskets in the most judicious manner for a good display of their beauties, for their preservation from bruising and decay, and for sending them forward to their destination with the least possible delay: the details of these several parts of the business will be left for the exercise of the ingenuity of the parties most deeply interested. In the class of fruits which are so constituted as to bear and indeed to require picking, before they have reached the period of perfect ripeness we shall find several particulars that need consideration. First, it will be found that the proper time for gathering them varies considerably. Thus, with early apples and pears, a few days only embrace the best period, during which they may be gathered without becoming wilted if plucked too soon, or decaying if left too late. Even with winter fruits, we find that, to have them in perfection, some varieties require to be gathered much earlier than the time usually assigned for harvesting the general crop. It is somewhat singular also, that this course very considerably extends their time of keeping, and that some of those varieties which would become dry, mealy, and insipid, early in the winter, if gathered too late, will remain sound, firm, plump, and juicy, and retain all their fine flavor through the winter, if they have been taken from the tree at an earlier period of the season. They must be left upon the tree until properly developed, however, and then be carefully kept in a cool apartment.

The usual season for gathering winter fruits is October, before the access of severe frosts, and at a time when the wood-growth for the season has been completed, and the foliage is nearly ready to separate from its attachment to the tree. The fruits will then generally part readily from the twigs, without either breaking them or rupturing the fruit-stem, which should always be preserved, and from the apple especially, it should never be pulled out, as is apt to happen in certain varieties, when proper care is not exercised in picking them. Some of the apples that require to be gathered early, are, the Rambo, Pryor's Red, Hubbardston, Westfield, Rhode Island Greening, several Russets, and all those which evince a tendency to fall prematurely. There are others which may be left to a later period with impunity, some of these will even bear a little freezing without serious damage, but we should always endeavor to anticipate the exposure of our fruits to any great depression of temperature while they remain attached to the trees. An early and severe frost has often proved disastrous to a fine crop of apples, thus left too long upon the trees.

For all fruits it is essential that the weather should be fine at the time they are gathered. They should be perfectly dry when plucked, and they must be handled with the greatest care to avoid bruising in the slightest degree. Each specimen must be taken separately in the hand and turned to one side, when, if it do not part readily from the twig, the thumb and finger must be applied to the stem, to aid the separation at the proper point; each is then to be placed in a gathering basket, which should be shallow, and for delicate sorts should be lined loosely with fresh leaves or with soft moss, or a little wilted grass. From the baskets, the fruit should be transferred to its permanent winter quarters, by a careful and judicious hand, who should select them and reject all that are bruised, specked, or otherwise defective, and place them on the shelves, or pack them in the boxes or barrels into which they are placed for preservation, or transportation to market. In packing, it is best to use no material but the fruit itself, which should be so closely placed that they shall not jostle and bruise one another when moved. Some persons use a bag, slung around the neck, when gathering the fruits from the tree; into this they are placed as fast as they are plucked, and successively transferred to the barrels, or poured in piles upon the ground. With very firm varieties, this may be done without serious damage, but the bruising that necessarily ensues will be very prejudicial to all the more delicate fruits, and will materially depreciate the value of such as are also of a pale color. A want of care in this matter of handling fruit is, no doubt, the chief reason for the popular preference of red apples in our markets, since those, that are well covered with a deep color, do not show the bruises that are so unseemly upon the fair cheek of the lighter colored varieties.

The modes of keeping winter fruits are exceedingly various, and some of them are quite primitive. The desiderata are coolness and dryness, which should not be carried to the extent of freezing, nor of desiccation. The simplest method is to place the fruit in a pile upon a dry piece of ground, to cover it thickly with clean dry straw, and, as the winter approaches, to apply a heavy layer of earth, sufficient to keep out the frost. Sometimes this is kept from the straw by a simple roof of boards, which support the earth from pressing upon the fruit, and leave it in a sort of cave, which can be entered occasionally during the winter. This plan is only recommended for those who have no cellars or other suitable apartments, for many fruits acquire an earthy flavor from this near contact with the soil. Another primitive plan, and one which is well adapted to the preservation of cider apples, and might be used for the keeping of those needed for stock feeding, is to build a rail-pen, four square, like a field corn-crib, into which the fruit is put upon straw, and a lining of the same material is placed at the sides and upon the top, which may also be sheltered with boards to shed off the rain. In our mild winters, many varieties of fruits can be sufficiently well preserved in this manner for the purposes mentioned. In a proper establishment for cider-making, large bins and rooms are provided within the building, which afford sufficient protection from the frost, so that cider-making may be carried on during the winter; and in well arranged farm-steads, the feeding barns should be provided with suitable compartments for the safe storage of fruits or roots, that are to be fed to the stock during the inclement season, when they are so much needed.

All farm-houses should be provided with good deep and dry cellars, which will prove the best place for the storage of fruits. These may be placed in bins, or, still better, upon shelves, as it is not desirable to have too great a bulk together. When but one, or at most, but two layers of fruit are deposited upon each shelf, and when each of these is placed at a sufficient distance from those above or below it, the whole may be easily inspected from time to time, and defective specimens can be removed without disturbing the rest. These shelves should be made of narrow strips, separated from one another by a space that will admit of thorough ventilation. The whole apartment devoted to fruit, should be kept cool and dark, and free from moisture or dampness.

Many large orchardists prefer to select their fruit from the picking baskets, and pack at once in new barrels, which are made for this special purpose, and are not so tight as those used for flour. In packing these, it is desirable to place the fruit carefully in layers, filling the space completely as the work proceeds, putting each specimen down by hand, and when the vessel is filled to about an inch above the chine, the heads are put on, a follower placed upon them, and the whole brought under the pressure of a lever, which forces the mass together so that there shall be no possibility of motion among the fruit. It is better that the outer layers should be somewhat indented by the barrel heads, than that the whole should be spoiled by the bruising that would follow from loose packing. These barrels are often left under the trees for some time, or they may be placed under an open shed for protection, prior to transportation. It is a common practice, before barreling, to deposit the fruit in piles as it is gathered, giving it only a covering of straw to allow it to throw off a part of its moisture, a process generally termed sweating. Now it cannot be gainsaid that there may be an escape of the fluids by transpiration through the pores of the skin, and we know that there is a loss of weight and even of plumpness, in many varieties, by exposure in a dry atmosphere; but the excessive moisture observed upon the surface of fruits that have been exposed to a low temperature, when they are brought into a warmer apartment, is unquestionably the simple precipitation of atmospheric moisture, and entirely independent of the juices of the fruit itself. The advantages of this method of treatment are, that more time is given for the careful selection of the fruits before placing them in the barrels, and a better opportunity for selection, and the rejection from the packages of all those which are in any way defective. The disadvantages are the increased labor and the greater amount of handling to which the fruits are subjected. The surface of our seed-fruits, (pepins), is endued with a peculiar coating of a waxy nature, which is of great value for their preservation, and should not be removed, hence the less fruit is handled, the better it will keep, and it should never be rubbed nor wiped; if too wet, or "sweating," it should be exposed to a dry atmosphere, until the surplus moisture shall have quietly evaporated before it is transferred or handled.

It is often observed of particular varieties that they are more prone to wilt than other kinds: this is particularly the case with Russet apples, and is believed to result from a deficiency of this protecting outer covering or waxy exudation, which appears most plentiful in those that retain their plumpness.

In packing for market, besides the directions already given as to prevent motion, it is very desirable to have the packages, of whatever form, whether boxes or barrels, of a neat appearance and uniform full size. The fruits should be well selected, and of a like average quality throughout, and not fixed up for market with the best only at the ends or sides that are to be first opened, while the inferior fruit is concealed within. Honesty is the best policy everywhere, and dealers soon learn to discriminate in favor of the brands of honest packers. It is believed that any orchardists, who will take pains in the selection of their fruits, and in the excellence and honest measure of their packages, will soon establish a reputation that will be of great value to them in their future offerings.

Fruit-rooms.—For those who wish to reap the highest rewards and the greatest profits from a near and convenient market, as well as those who desire to preserve their fruits, prolong their enjoyment of them, and to bring them to the highest perfection, the fruit-room or fruit-house becomes indispensable. These should be so constructed as to meet the required conditions of an equable and cool temperature, with darkness, and a sufficient amount of dryness to insure freedom from mold and damp. To avoid the precipitation of atmospheric moisture, the apartment should be tight, and seldom opened, particularly in damp weather. To absorb the exhalations from the fruit itself, and that emitted from the burning candle or the breathing of the visitor, the introduction of certain chemical absorbents has been suggested; among these, freshly burned lime has been recommended and used, but Mr. Du Breuil advises the introduction of dry chloride of calcium, which has so great an affinity for moisture as to absorb it completely from the atmosphere. This is the material used by B.M. Nyce, of Cleveland, Ohio, in his patent fruit preserving establishments; and this mode of preserving a dry atmosphere is a leading, and indeed, the chief feature and element of his success.

In the construction of fruit-houses, the fluctuations of the outer atmospheric temperature must be guarded against by making double walls, and by filling the spaces with non-conducting materials. The floors and the ceiling should be similarly arranged—unless where the cooling is effected by a layer of ice above the fruit-room, when the ceiling should be metallic, so as to enable the caloric to be rapidly abstracted from the space below. The house, patented by Prof. Nyce, is essentially a large refrigerator, with the ice at the top, and provided with absorbents for removing from the air the moisture it has received from the fruit. Its construction will be understood from the accompanying diagrams and description. The lettering of similar parts is the same in all three diagrams; the description is that of the inventor.