THINNING, GATHERING, KEEPING. MARKETING. 131 



'pockets' most desirable, I would suggest as a rule, that the 

 package be made to suit the desired market. 



" Fancy-fruit retailers, who aim at high prices, require a 

 fancy package, and in the early part of the season a one- 

 pound package, gotten up in best style, will command as 

 much money as a four or six pound package of equally good 

 fruit, but less pretentious pockets; whilst the hotel or 'corner- 

 grocery' men prefer them (for the table, or to be weighed 

 out by the pound) in wooden cases, containing from twenty- 

 five to thirty pounds each. 



" My aim has ever been, in putting grapes into market, to 

 meet the wants of the trade that I endeavored to supply. 

 Boston, for example, will realize an enormous price for first- 

 class fruit in fancy packages, whilst New York would pay far 

 better in wood than in the costly pockets consumed by Boston 

 every-day trade." 



" The most popular package at the present time for grapes, 

 peaches, and apricots is the Climax basket, which is made in 

 various styles and sizes. These are made in sizes holding 

 from five to ten or twelve pounds of fruit. They are handy, 

 cheap, nest well in the shipment, and are durable. A good 

 basket of any kind should be one which is neatly made, with 

 no splinters or tag ends hanging from it, which is firm and 

 symmetrical in shape, well nailed, and which is perfectly clean 

 or white in appearance. Baskets become yellow and discolor- 

 ed, if they are left in the sun ; therefore, when they are stored, 

 they should be placed in a clean and dark dry loft or room. If 

 packages which have been left over from the last year are 

 somewhat dingy, it is sometimes possible to bleach them by 

 burning a little sulphur in the room." (Bailey, " Principles of 

 Fruit-Growing.") So general has the use of the Climax 

 basket become for grapes that it is now commonly known as 

 the " grape basket." In putting up a good quality of grapes, 

 it is important that the " bloom " is not rubbed off, that the 

 berries show no finger marks, and that the clusters be cut, not 

 pulled, from the vine. 



Packing Strawberries and Other Small Fruits. These should 

 be packed in small or shallow boxes, holding not over one 

 quart and sent to market in open-slat wooden crates. Both 



