HfXTS FOR FRUIT GROUF.RS. 



235 



Fic 



ioi<o. Scene in a Cherry Packing House at San Jose, California. 



are hig^h and long ladders are needed. In 

 the young-er orchards, however, where the 

 trees are smaller and can be reached by step 

 ladders, we often employ women and g'irls, 

 and find them excellent pickers. 



In the packing" house we employ women, 

 for it is work they enjoy and they do it with 

 excellent taste. 



In the larg-e cities we see the California 

 cherries offered for sale in shallow boxes, 

 holding- about two layers, the top beautifully 

 placed in regular rows, without a stem to be 

 seen. Our engraving, taken from the Fruit 

 Trade Journal, shows a scene in a cherry 

 packing house at San Jose, California, where 

 the fruit is being put up in these boxes. 



The size of these boxes is, outside mea- 

 surements, 18 inches in length, lojs inches 

 in width, 3 inches in depth. Inside mea- 

 surement, length 16 12 inches, width io}i 

 inches, depth 2^ inches. The capacity is 

 10 lbs of cherries. 



It is an open question whether it would 

 not be an advantage for us to adopt this 

 package for our choice cherries. 



Refrigerator Cars have proved of great 

 service to our fruit growers, enabling them 

 not only to reach cold storage steamers with 

 fruit for export, but also to reach the home 

 markets with tender fruits in far better con- 

 dition and at less cost than by express. The 

 immense quantities sent forward from the 

 Niagara district, for example, at one time 

 so congested the service of the express 

 trains that the goods were handled most 

 carelessly. Now we can load a refrigerator 

 car at leisure and forward by fast freight to 

 such a centre as Ottawa or Montreal, and 

 have confidence in the safe arrival even 

 after a journey of forty-eight hours. 



A great mistake is often made by over- 

 loading such cars. The hot air is driven to 

 the top, so that there should be a space over 

 the goods of about two feet, and, besides 



