CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



apples are spread on these shelves a foor or more deep. The floor is made 

 of slats, and there are bins on this also. The first must receive a thorough 

 sprinkling weekly, unless sufficient rain falls. The slats are close enough 

 to prevent birds doing damage, and the whole building is raised six inches 

 from the ground. 



In the mountain regions arrangements must be made for frost 

 exclusion a consideration which does not apply to the valley and 

 coast. 



PICKING AND PACKING APPLES ON A LARGE SCALE 



Mr. C. H. Rodgers, whose pruning prescription has been cited, 

 gives the best methods of handling apples for market as follows : 



In the matter of picking, experience has evolved a number of rules which 

 should be strictly adhered to: 



(1) Do not pull the apple off the tree. By so doing, the stem may be 

 detached from the apple, thus making a second grade of what otherwise 

 would be choice. 



The proper method of plucking the apple is to grasp it with the full hand, 

 not with the fingers only, and by a gentle twist and lateral movement detach 

 it with the stem attached. Especially must finger pressure be avoided in 

 the picking, as bruises thereby produced injure the value. 



(2) The apple must n ever be dropped into a receptacle or from box to 

 box, but should be transferred as carefully as so many eggs. 



(3) Under all circumstances use vehicles having springs in moving the 

 fruit. 



Once within the packing-house the more perishable varieties should be 

 handled immediately and forwarded to market, while the long-keeping vari- 

 eties, especially those intended for export, should be held at least a month 

 before sorting and packing. This latter precaution enables the packer to 

 discover and eliminate all diseased and defective fruit a thing that would 

 be impossible if the fruit were packed at an early date after picking. 



Three grades or qualities are recognized in the "trade" first, second 

 and third. First grade includes only perfect fruit Second grade includes 

 the fruit having a trivial surface blemish or stem absent. The third or cull 

 class includes all wormy, badly bruised or skin-broken apples. 



Though grading for size varies somewhat in different localities, in the 

 Watsonville district, the leading apple-producing center of the West, there 

 are but three sizes recognized. These are 3*/ 2 , 4 and 4^ tier. The unit of 

 size is the 4-tier, which comprises all apples running from 2% to 3J4 inches 

 in diameter, and derives the name from the fact that when packed in the 

 box there are four rows of four apples each, both vertically and horizon- 

 tally across the end of the box. Apples in excess of 3^ inches are classed 

 as 354-tier size. The third size, 4^-tier, includes those apples ranging 

 between 2^ and 2^ inches in diameter. Both the 3^-tier and 4^i-tier 

 are packed in the manner known as "diamond" pack or "pear" pack. Apples 

 smaller than 4^-tier are thrown into the cull pile. The sorter ascertains 

 the size by passing the apples through circular holes in a board. 



In this state the standard box is made of pine. Redwood boxes are used 

 only for cheap grades of apples packed for the local market. 



After being sorted, the apples are passed to the packer, who, before 

 placing them in the box, wraps each apple in a piece of paper prepared for 

 the purpose. 



The apples must be so packed in the box as to permit the nailing firmly 

 of the hd at each end, and at the same time allow a gradual swell of about 

 three-fourths of an inch at the middle of both top and bottom. On account 

 of the resultant shape of the boxes, they can be stacked up with safety only 

 on their sides. 



The packed boxes, after being neatly labeled, are next transferred to the 

 cars and stacked four or five tiers high. An air space of three or four feet 



