HARVESTING AND STORING 



Three feet six inches is about the right width 

 for the table, and the same sloping to three feet 

 four inches at one end, is the correct height 

 from the ground. Most packers like to have 

 this gradual slope to one end so that the apples 

 will naturally feed toward that end. The length 

 may be anything up to eight or ten feet, beyond 

 which the table becomes heavy and unmanage- 

 able. 



Barrels. — The standard apple barrel 

 adopted by the National Apple Shippers' Asso- 

 ciation and made law in New York State has 

 a length of stave of twenty-eight and one-half 

 inches and a diameter of head of seventeen and 

 one-eighth inches. The outside circumference of 

 the bilge is sixty-four inches and the distance 

 between the heads Is twenty-six Inches. It con- 

 tains one hundred quarts dry measure. The 

 staves are mostly made of elm, pine, and red 

 gum, and the heads principally of pine with 

 some beech and maple. In most apple growing 

 sections barrels are made In regular cooper 

 shops where their manufacture Is a business by 

 itself. Only the largest growers set up their 

 own barrels. Practically all barrels are pur- 

 chased *' knocked down " and it costs from four 

 to six cents each to set them up. Barrels can 

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