208 



.The Canadian Horticulturist. 



and ripe specimens should be placed in the boxes, and the top layer in every 

 box should be an honest index of the whole. With the " picking crate " swung 

 to the picker, he has every facility for doing his work well, and quickly detecting 

 any damaged or inferior fruit before it is picked. As soon as the boxes in the 

 picking crate are filled, they are taken out and placed in a shipping crate, and 

 others put in their place ; and the crate, when full, carried to the facing tab'e. 



Facing and Packing. — The first consists in turning the stems of all fruit in 

 the top layer down, which will give the appearance of a solid surface to the box. 

 All boxes should be filled a little above their edges, to avoid the semblance of 

 stinted measure, and provide for the inevitable settling sure to follow the racket 

 of transportation. As fast as faced, pack them in the shipping crate, the best 

 being the 24-box crate, close up securely, brand with name of variety, and name 

 of grower and consignee, and send to destination at once This fruit is never 

 so attractive as at the time when taken from the tree, and the sooner it is placed 

 in the market the more readily it will sell. The practice of facing, above 

 described, is receiving severe criticisms in some prominent circles, as offering 

 too great temptation to dishonest conduct. 



Storage^ for the Purpose of Holding. — The product can be safely held in a 

 cold storage for several days, but must be quickly used when taken out ; and 

 especially is this an advantage to the grower in seasons when the yield is 

 abundant, and the market overstocked. — Kansas Fruit Manual. 



Fertilizing Constituents Found in Fruits.— The necessity of apply- 

 ing potash, phosphoric acid and nitrogen to our fruit crops, especially if land is 

 at all worn, is shown by the following table prepared at the Amherst (Mass.) 

 Agricultural College. Our readers will notice that potash is the element most 

 largely drawn upon ; the nitrogen varies, but phosphoric acid is pretty constant 

 at one per cent. 



Apples 



Apples 



Peaches 



Pears , 



Strawberries .... 

 Strawberries. . . . , 

 Strawberry vines 



Cherries . . 



Plums 



Currants, white. 

 Currants, Red. . . 

 Gooseberries 



Phosphoric 

 Acid. 



Potassium 

 Oxide. 



2.7 

 1.9 

 1.3 

 36 

 1.4 

 2.6 

 .7 

 .S.3 

 4.3 

 2.8 

 2.1 

 1.9 



Nitrogen. 



2 

 1.3 



