Fruit Brevities. 419 



and are readily taken out as the packing progresses. When fill- 

 ing with apples, we use a plank for the man to walk on as he 

 carries the fruit to the back of the shed. The empty barrels are 

 set on one or more i)lanks, which are not quite as wide as the 

 heads of the barrels, where one person faces the bottom (which 

 is to be the head), by placing the first course of fruit; the same- 

 person empties the half-bushel round baskets (in which w^e sort 

 all of the No. 1) into the barrels in order as they stand on the 

 plank, giving the barrel a vigorous shake for every basket, while 

 the packers work constantly sorting from the piles, the apples 

 rolling down to them. These half-bushel baskets should be of 

 such shape and size that they can be readily turned over in the 

 barrel in emptying, to avoid bruising the fruit as is done when 

 poured into the barrel. All rejected fruit is put into bushel 

 baskets and taken away. Each sorter uses a separate basket, 

 so that it is easy to detect poor work when the baskets are 

 emptied into the barrel. One man heads, nails and rolls out 

 the barrels; another faces, and empties baskets. As far as pos- 

 sible, each person has his particular kind of work, and, if not 

 satisfactorily done, the responsibility is readily located. We 

 expect to pack our apples early in November. The first heads 

 of the barrels are nailed on rainy days during the summer or 

 early fall. When the barrels are packed, they are piled up out- 

 doors, and if weather is dry, we sprinkle them thoroughly to 

 prevent the barrel from absorbing the moisture of the fruit, 

 thereby causing it to shrink and to rattle in the barrel. 



^' It is important that the qualitj- shall be the same all through 

 the barrel, and, as far as possible, that one barrel shall be a fair 

 sample of a car load or more. Great care should be taken in all 

 the stages of gathering and packing never to needlessly bruise 

 the fruit. For picking, which for winter apples begins about 

 October 1st, each man uses a half-bushel handle basket, which he 

 empties when filled into one holding one and one-fourth bushels, 

 by capping the latter over the former and inverting to avoid 

 bruising in emptying the first basket. We use these bushel 

 baskets in which to draw all of our fruit to the packing-house, 



