GATHERING AND MARKETING. "9 
borne too high to reach, a common step-ladder will be 
found convenient. A cheap and convenient step-ladder 
may be made out of two pine boards, six inches wide and 
one inch thick, for sides. The steps should be of the 
same width, and mortised into them, with a wider board 
for the top. The bottom should be wide enough to 
stand firmly, and the top only wide enough for standing 
room, with a basket for the fruit. 
The stave basket, being smooth inside, and therefore 
less liable to bruise the fruit, is preferred to the old 
splint or chip basket. The size used to be for five half 
Fig. 58.—A CHEAP STEP-LADDER. Fig. 54.—STAVE BASKET, 
pecks, but now itis generally forfour. The old standard 
crate for shipping fruit was eight inches wide, fourteen 
deep, and twenty-three and a half long, outside measure. 
The ends and partition were cut from three-quarter inch 
pine, seven and a half wide by fourteen inches long. 
The bottom and top were six and a half wide, and three- 
eighths of an inch thick. The sides were of four slats of 
the same thickness, and twoand a balf inches wide. ‘The 
whole crate consisted of thirteen pieces, often with a 
planed end for marking. These proportions are varied, 
some being wider and shorter, or narrower and deeper, 
