PACKING IN "HALVES" 85 



the fruit they produce. This fruit is all packed in non- 

 returnable boxes. 



One private grower, who makes a speciality of choice 

 Apples (Cox's Orange Pippin) finds a ready sale for them 

 in boxes holding 18, 24, and 36 fruits, which he sells at 

 the same price. They average about 5 Ibs. in weight, 

 the boxes of 18 being the finest, selected fruits. This 

 culture can even be undertaken by private people, ladies 

 or gentlemen, as a paying hobby, and no doubt larger 

 growers will also take up such a profitable system of 

 sale, as in that way they can realise double or treble 

 the market value of bushel packages. 



It is now the custom to pack nearly all hard fruit 

 for Covent Garden, or other London markets, in baskets 

 called " halves " (half-sieves), which hold, nominally, four 

 gallons. I should like to say just a word against the 

 practice of putting large cooking Apples in half-sieves. 

 This is by no means a good plan. A " half " of large 

 Apples does not contain more than three or four layers, 

 and in packing, loading, and in the general knocking about 

 the basket gets before reaching its final destination, 

 the bottom layer becomes bruised, whilst the top layer 

 suffers in the same way from the pressure of packing 

 sticks. The result is that there is only one or, at most, 

 two layers that open in good order. If the same fruit 

 were packed in bushel or hundredweight barrels, the 

 bruising would be necessarily much less, and the fruit 

 sell better. Dessert Apples are best placed in half -sieves, 

 but for other kinds the larger package is much the best. 



Customs die hard and buyers still prefer the basket- 

 packed fruit. A " half " of fruit weighs about 24 Ibs., and 



