196 THE FIG: ITS HISTORY, CULTURE, AND OURING. 
made round or square or any shape required, their object being simply 
to keep the layers distinctly separate. For common packing, shallow 
guides may be made for simple “‘ facing.” Facing consists of placing 
rows of figs in a certain harmonious order at top and bottom of a box 
not otherwise packed with bars or rows. Even lower grades of figs 
which are simply dumped into the boxes may thus be faced to great 
advantage and with small cost. 
PRESSING. 
The final process in packing figs consists in more or less forcibly 
pressing the pack. This should be done with all figs except the best, 
which are so thin 
skinned, pulpy, and 
delicate that the 
weight of one box 
on top of the other, 
tothe height of seven 
or eight, is sufficient 
to press the figs se- 
~~ TRU THT Mh curely in the boxes. 
“FU if L And even with these, 
eau “atl ath | \ the best figs, a mod- 
erate pressure by 
means of a press 
adapted to the pur- 
pose secures a quick- 
er and more even 
work than the old 
Asiatic way of sim- 
ply allowing the figs 
F 1G. 31.—California raisin and fig press. to press themselves. 
In order to secure 
this steady and regulated. pressure there is no better machine made 
than the so-called ‘‘raisin” press (fig. 31). With this easily regulated 
lever press the slightest as well as the heaviest desirable pressure can 
be brought on the pack, according to the quality of the figs. 
The final process is as follows: The guide being in the box, the bot- 
tom (or top) is nailed on. The pack reaches slightly above the box, 
even or almost even with the top of the guide. <A follower is first put 
over each compartment of the guide and the box, placed in the press, 
is given a slight pressure. This has the effect of compressing each bar 
of figs separately. This first pressing should be heavy enough to 
bring the figs to a level with the top of the box. After the boxes have 
been left under the press levers for a few minutes they are removed 
and the guide is lifted from each box. This is readily done by placing 
