This 1971 M.S. thesis studied the mechanical harvesting of fruits when subjected to periodic forced oscillations. A numerical study of a double physical pendulum model is compared with high-speed photographic studies of the fruit-stem assemblage of Golden Delicious apples at maturity. The predicted frequency-dependence for in-phase and out of phase normal mode behaviors are in excellent agreement with the experimental results. Horizontal, vertical combined horizontal and vertical forcing patterns are studied and confirm the expected responses.