176 THE AMERICAN PEACH ORCHARD 



worth of peaches to farmers within easy driving dis- 

 tance of the orchard, and this direct sale is nearly all 

 profit. There are no freight or express charges to 

 pay, no commissions on sale and no waste of any 

 kind. When peaches fully mature on the trees they 

 turn out more bushels of better quality and sell at 

 top prices. Customers are satisfied and sales stead- 

 ily increase. It is a great business opening too long 

 neglected." This statement by Mr. Hale will be em- 

 phatically indorsed by everyone who understands 

 the conditions throughout the country. 



The great objection which has to be overcome 

 here is that which lies against peddling. A great 

 many farmers have a fierce prejudice against any- 

 thing of this sort, and would rather work by the 

 day cleaning out somebody else's horse stables than 

 to peddle fruit. On the other hand, a good many 

 men feel the folly of such an attitude and have 

 brought themselves to the wisdom of supplying 

 good fruit to their friends and neighbors in country 

 and in town and making a good profit out of it for 

 themselves. 



The fruit is hauled from the orchard direct to the 

 consumer and is sold either by the peck or the 

 bushel or in suitable baskets. The i6-quart Jersey 

 basket is by all odds the best package for handling 

 fruit in this way, although a few scattering peaches 

 could be handled from climax baskets or from the 

 two-and-a-half-quart bale basket already described. 

 It is worth while to consider also the use of paper 

 boxes or cartons for this home market. These could 

 be used especially for various fancy fruits. Already 

 packages of this kind have been adopted by many 

 growers of fancy apples and have been found satis- 

 factory in meeting the retail trade. They are equally 

 well adapted to the handling of- fancy peaches. 



