PACKING GRAPES : VARIOUS MODES OF DOttfG SK>. 69 



over the paper, and the lid is screwed or nailed down. Cotton -wool 

 is never used next to the Grapes, excepting occasionally to support a 

 heavy shoulder. 



A new material named " wood-wool " has lately come into use for 

 packing purposes, and is found to answer admirably for Grapes. It 

 is used in the same way as cotton-wool, which it is likely to displace, 

 having much more buoyancy and elasticity. " Wood-wool " is the fine 

 hair-like shavings of wood prepared for the purpose, the best being that 

 of willow or poplar. That made from deal is apt, if kept in a warm 

 place, to impart a taste of the resin. 



For several years Messrs. Webber & Co., Co vent Garden, offered 

 prizes at the meetings of the Koyal Horticultural Society for the best 

 mode of packing fruit to be sent long distances. The most successful 

 competitor, Mr. Coleman, gardener at Eastnor Castle, practised much 

 the same method of packing as we have here described, but used dry 

 moss in preference to any other packing material. There is a certain 

 elasticity about moss that renders it specially suitable for the purpose, 

 and where it can be procured it is well to use it. It is superior to 

 cotton-wool, which has very little elasticity. Mr. Coleman's method 

 of packing fruit is very lucidly described in the Gardener*? Chronicle, 

 N.S. xii., 624. His instructions in respect to packing Muscats, which 

 are very easily bruised and discoloured, as well as for packing large 

 bunches, are particularly good ; not only does he line the bottom of 

 the box with dry moss, but " the sides and ends are lined with long 

 strips of wadding, folded in silver paper," and the bunches being laid 

 in sheets of paper, are divided from each other by strips of wadding 

 and packed firmly. The wadding or cotton-wool must not, on any 

 account, be placed in direct contact with the fruit. 



Another method is to wrap each bunch separately in thin paper, 

 and then pack with cotton-wool or moss, or sometimes bran, but as 

 these methods cannot be recommended it is unnecessary to notice 

 them further. 



White Chasselas and White Lisbon Grapes, as sold by grocers, are 

 termed dry fruit, and are not included as Grapes proper ; these are 

 received packed loosely in large casks or barrels, which are then filled 

 with bran or cork dust. In this way they arrive in wonderfully 

 fresh condition. When unpacked the bran has to be brushed off 

 before they can be sold or used. For the packing of Grapes for 

 market, see chap. xxii. 



Packing Grapes for Exhibition. When required for exhibition, 

 Grapes have to be submitted in the most perfect condition possible, 

 showing as little as may be of rubbing or the displacement of the 

 bloom. They cannot, therefore, be packed or sent in any ordinary 

 way. No matter how securely the bunches may be fastened, and how 

 legibly the boxes may be labelled " Grapes with Care," " This side 

 up," if consigned to the ordinary means of transit they are invariably 



