The Canadian Horticulturist. 



341 



HARVESTING AND MARKETING THE GRAPE CROP. 



Picking, packing and marketing should be done systenaatically ; careless 

 pickers or packers cannot be tolerated. In western New York a bushel tray or 

 box is used almost exclusively for picking. This is too cumbersome and 

 requires both hands in moving it. We use a shallow half bushel box, or basket, 

 which is readily handled with one hand. A good picker will gather from 1200 

 to 1500 lbs. per day without dropping or crushing any, and a good packer will 

 pack 100 to 125 baskets and get them full enough so they will open up smooth 

 and level on top with no stems in sight, but not so full as to crush the fruit in 

 putting on the cover. Pick grapes at least 24 hours before they are packed. If 

 picked and packed at once, they settle so the basket is only two-thirds full when 

 it reaches the consumer. ^ 



Plan the harvest work so that full loads can be hauled to the depot each 

 day. If the roads are good, as they should be, 400 or 500 baskets can be as 

 readily drawn as half that number. Have the packing house cool and airy, with 

 room and conveniences for the packers to work to the best advantage. If you 

 ship to a commission house, don't listen to every drummer that comes along, 

 but select two or three reliable firms and give them your fruit exclusively. The 

 plan of forming all growers into a co-operative union has not proved a success 

 here. A better plan is for several growers who can work harmoniously to load 

 their own cars and ship or sell in carlots. — American Agriculturist. 



WAGON SPRINGS FOR THE FRUIT WAGON. 



In large commercial orchards it is well understood that the jolting of fruit 

 when carried in the solid, springless box wagon causes injury, entailing great loss 



to the selling value of the fruit. The cut 

 illustrates a simple method of arranging 

 springs with a wagon body sufficiently sen- 

 sitive for the carr)'ing of the most delicate 

 fruit. The springs may be made of verti- 

 cal coiled wire, securely fastened to the 

 cro6s piece which is attached to the under 

 side of the body of the wagon and held in 

 place by uprights at the ends. Fruit may 

 easily be drawn for miles and but little 

 bruising occurs thus supported and 

 carried. 



Fig. 829. — Carryi.ng Frcit Without 

 Bbcisisg. 



