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PACKING FIGS. 197 
the fingers on the followers and pressing them gently, while the other 
hand loosens the guide and tinally lifts it out. The figs will have pre- 
served the regularity with which they were packed and the line divi- 
sion between the bars kept straight and sharp and so perfect that a 
flat table knife may be drawn through the line without cutting the 
figs. This whole operation is quickly performed, and requires less 
time to be carried out than to be deseribed. The pressing of other 
figs, packed with or without guides, in square, oblong, or round boxes, 
is accomplished in the same manner, easily modified to suit dif- 
ferent requirements. In 
the ease of round boxes 
round followers must of 
course be used. 
If the pressure brought 
on the figs is very great 
the boxes may give and 
open while in the press. 
To avoid this there may 
be used a guard of galva- = 
nized iron of such size as | 
to snugly fit the box on \ 
the outside, the height of 
the guard being, how- } | 
ever, half an inch less == 
than the box. The guard | i 
should not have a solid Nee 
bottom, but one open in rm 
the center, a flange ex- 
tending for half an inch 
along the sides being suf- 
ficient. This is done in 
order that the box may be Fic. 32.—Green-fruit press in use in the United States. 
pushed out if pressed too 
tightly into the guard. If the boxes are strong and well made, even 
this flange may be dispensed with, the guard then taking the form of 
a Single band fitting outside the fig box. 
After the guide has been lifted a final pressure may or may not be 
needed in order to allow the nailing on of the covers. The objects of 
pressing the figs are several. First, the necessity of having the pack 
solid, then to prevent evaporation and the drying out of the figs, ete. 
Smyrna figs are packed with pieces of sweet bay or laurel (Laurus 
nobilis) stuck here and there among the top layers. The aromatie 
smell of these leaves adds to the flavor of the figs and to the appear- 
ance of the box. The wild laurel (Oreodaphne californica), which is 
yet more aromatic and pungent, answers the purpose equally well. 
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