Vegetables with Edible Fruits 189 



change slightly from green to whitish ; but it will require 

 considerable experience before one is able to pick just at 

 the right time. 



The picking is usually done in ordinary market baskets. 

 Hands for this purpose must be selected with some degree 

 of caution, as only those who can discriminate well and 

 who are not rough with the vegetables should be em- 

 ployed. At convenient places in the field, boxes are 

 placed ; these boxes are about ten inches wide, fourteen 

 deep, and thirty long; they hold about two crates. In 

 making such boxes it will be found best not to leave any 

 cracks open, and to make them of whole boards; this 

 lessens the danger of injuring the fruit. Strips are nailed 

 across the ends, which serve as handles and at the same 

 time give additional strength. It is desirable to make the 

 box large enough to hold two crates, as this weight usually 

 requires the attention of the person handling it, and there 

 will be less danger of carelessness. 



Packing-house. 



It is very desirable to have the tomato packing-house 

 located at a depot or railway switch, so that the crated 

 vegetables can be loaded directly on the car; this will 

 save one handling, and consequently compensate for a con- 

 siderable haul. If, however, the packing-house is so far 

 from the railroad that the crated fruit must be handled, 

 it should then be placed as near the center of the field as 

 possible. There are many reasons why a packing-house 

 should not be near dwellings. 



The interior of the packing-house should be arranged 

 so that the boxes are received from the wagon and set on 



