The Canadian Horticulturist. 



379 



PACKING APPLES. 



LL apple growers who have a few hundred barrels or more of 

 apples to handle should be able to pack their own apples in a 

 proper manner for export. This is all the more important in a 

 season like the present, when apples are so abundant, that 

 buyers can get fine fruit at their own prices. How is it that 

 when winter apples are selling (Oct. 6th) in England at from $2.50 to $3 50 per 

 bl., buyers here are only paying about 

 80 cents per barrel ? All the expenses 

 of export are only about $1.25, and it 

 is plain that the buyer is making more 

 than the grower. 



A few hints on the best methods 

 of apple packing will therefore be in 

 place, and may help our growers to 

 get proper remuneration for their 

 goods. Indeed in no other business 

 except apple growing, do people ever 

 think of waiting for somebody to come Fig. 1011.— Packing Table for Apples. 

 along and pack their goods. Why then should the fruit grower let his apples 

 rot in his orchard waiting for some travelling buyer to offer him a mere song. 

 He should on the other hand wake up to his opportunities, learn to pack his 

 own fruit, and put himself in communication with the best markets. 



Harvesting. — A common mistake is to leave apples hanging on the trees 

 till the middle of October, by which time a large quantity of the sound fruit 

 will be blown off by the winds, and that remaining will be over ripe. It is 

 better to begin as soon as the apples have their full color, and this begins with 

 some varieties about the 20th of September. Our practice is to gather apples 

 in about the following order, according to their time of maturity ; viz., Blenheim, 

 King, Ribstons, Snow, Greening, Cranberry, Golden Russet, Spitzenberg, 

 Baldwin, Roxbury Russet, Spy. 



In the case of a large crop of a thousand or more barrels it is best to pack 

 for the most part in the orchard. We do not favor the common practice of 

 making piles on the ground, to be left exposed to rain and sun, and to be 

 picked up again by hand. A packing table can be quickly made, such as is 

 shown in the illustration. Fig. ion ; this is carried from place to place in the 

 orchard, convenient to the trees, and the pickers dump the apples upon it, while 

 the packer proceeds to pack them into the barrels. One good packer with an 

 assistant a part of the time, will put up, and head thirty or forty barrels a day in 

 this way ; and keep four or five pickers at work. 



