Picking and PacJcing the Fruit 395 



Step-ladders are needed in most orchards to enable the 

 pickers to reach much of the fruit, though where the trees 

 are j)runed as suggested in connection with Plate XIII {top) 

 the pickers can reach the fruit from the ground. 



The details of distributing the picking baskets and assem- 

 bling them after they are filled will vary to meet individual 

 needs and conditions. Commonly, when the fruit is taken 

 to a central packing-house, the baskets are returned to the 

 orchard by the wagon which takes the fruit to the packing- 

 house, as it returns to the orchard, and are distributed along 

 the rows by the driver or the foreman, 



As the baskets in turn are filled, they are placed in the 

 shade of the trees, since exposure to the sun is to be avoided 

 after the fruit is off the trees, the baskets commonly being 

 assembled by the pickers along some designated row or 

 adjacent rows for convenience in collecting when being 

 loaded for transit to the packing-house. A low wheeled 

 orchard truck with body supported on springs, as shown in 

 Plate XXVIII (top), is one of the most convenient types of 

 wagons for use in an orchard. A body with a double deck, 

 thus materially increasing the capacity, is desirable under 

 some conditions. 



Well-loaded peach trees are commonly picked over three 

 or four times in order to harvest the entire crop at the proper 

 degree of maturity, though when the trees are well pruned 

 and the crop develops uniformly, aided by careful thinning 

 earlier in the season, it may be possible to gather the crop at 

 a single picking. Or, under some conditions, especially if 

 ripening is prolonged by cold weather, as many as six or 

 eight pickings may be necessary. If the weather is warm 

 and the fruit ripens rapidly, picking every day may be 

 necessary in order to avoid over-ripeness, though picking 



