18 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



then more and shake again, and when even full after it is thoroughly 

 shaken, press the head in, drive the hoops, and nail the head in, and 

 line it with pieces of old hoops or green twigs ; then turn the barrel 

 over and mark the name of the party to whom it is to be shipped, as 

 well as the kind and quality. If shipped before cold weather, or 

 if nearly ripe, the barrel should have holes bored in it to admit a 

 circulation of air and prevent the fruit from heating and rotting. 



Great care should be exercised to use onl}' clean, sweet barrels, 

 and new ones should be used when they can be obtained. Pears 

 will readilj' absorb odors from the barrel or whatever they ma}- be 

 packed in. Any substance which will absorb moisture, like sugar 

 or salt, will induce decay. The value of a barrel is too insignificant 

 when compared with that of the pears it will hold, to warrant the 

 use of doubtful ones. 



When small quantities are to be sold in a local market, it is 

 better to put them out in a nearly ripe condition : that is when 

 the^' just begin to turn, but before the}^ are soft. When sold in 

 this condition I know of no better way to handle them than to 

 pack in shallow boxes similar to those used by market gardeners 

 for the sale of vegetables. These boxes should be made to hold 

 just a bushel or half a bushel each when even full, and the bottoms, 

 for the sake of ventilation, should be made of battens three-fourths 

 of an inch thick, and one and one-half inches wide, with three- 

 fourths of an inch spaces between them. The bushel adopted by 

 our government contains 2,150.42 cubic inches, and as pears as well 

 as other fruits and vegetables are sold b}' heaped measure, which 

 amounts to about five pecks even measure, we must add one peck to 

 the standard, which will give 2,688 cubic inches in a heaping bushel. 

 Now a box made eight inches deep and eighteen wide by eighteen 

 and two-thirds long, will hold 2,688 cubic inches even full, and such 

 boxes may be packed into a common market wagon side by side 

 and as high as is desirable, without injur}'^ to the fruit. For pears 

 which are quite ripe it would be better to use half-bushel boxes of 

 the same dimensions, except in height, which should be only four 

 inches instead of eight. In a four inch deep box, mellow pears 

 may be safely transported quite a distance in a spring wagon. 



Common baskets should b^' all means be avoided for handling 

 ripe or nearly ripe fruit. They are not rigid enough ; they are 

 continually changing their shape, and a slight movement will jam 

 the fruit more or less. Let any one who doubts this take a half- 



