GATHERING, HANDLING, ETC , TRANSCENDANT APPLES. 261 



selects the largest specimens and best colored fruit, removing the 

 stems and placing it carefully on the stem end, covering the bottom 

 of the barrel, which will be the top when it is opened. This is called 

 facing the barrel and adds very much to the appearance of the fruit 

 when opened. Some of the nicest of the fruit picked from the tops 

 of the trees is then filled in through a sack open at both ends. The 

 barrel is then shaken lightly to settle the fruit and placed under the 

 lower edge of the slanting table, which is a kind of shallow box on 

 legs, with the bottom padded upon which the fruit is first emptied. 



Gathering crab apples. 



It is let down carefully into the barrel over a sack apron, one end of 

 which is fastened to the lower edge of the table and the other con- 

 trolled by the left hand. 



When the barrel is filled and well rounded up, the packing screw 

 is applied and the head pressed down to its proper place and the 

 hoops tightened and nailed, the fruit being packed so solid and firm 

 that it cannot well be bruised in after handling. A good packer can 

 put up about sixty barrels a day ready for shipment. 



