Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 293, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 December 1916 — Select Fruit for Storage With Care [ARTICLE]

Select Fruit for Storage With Care

It would be hard to overestimate the value of cold storage for fruit. The difficulty is that very few growers, except in localities where there - are large commercial orchards, nave access'to cold storage. But many might keep apples in cellars for a few weeks at least. Apples for cold storage should be picked when fully grown, but while still firm- and well colored. They should) be placed in cold storage promptly and all unnecessary delay in grading and packing avoided. Storage direct from without grading and grading at leisure, is good practice. For long period storage only the best fruit should be Selected and it should be free from disease or blemish of any'sort. If the fruit is immature or poor quality it will naturally decay more readily. If overripe it will dry out and evaporate and become what is known as “mealy.” Overgrown fruit is not desirable for storage as it lacks firmness. Medium size, well colored fruit is the best.