138 THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



A AIember: Now in regard to boxes; do you find in 

 your experience that the box is a better package than the bar- 

 rel ? 



Mr. Castner : Yes sir. You take that box of apples 

 which you see there on the stage. There is no reason why any 

 of those apples should be bruised. You take a box with the 

 cover off like that, and you have got to handle it carefully 

 and keep it right side up. If }OU were to handle that as you 

 would a barrel, and roll the fruit around, it is going to be 

 hurt. You would find that two-thirds of your apples were 

 ruined before they were packed. And then they will decay 

 as soon as you put them up. They may look well, but they 

 won't stand up. The secret of the whole business is in the 

 handling. You have spent some time in raising them. Why 

 not spend some time in taking care of them ? 



A Member : What kind of packages do you use in 

 picking apples? 



Mr. Castner : Well, we use a half-bushel basket or 

 a pail. There are a good many patented devices that have 

 been invented for picking. Some of them have a canvas 

 that you can open up. As a rule, they will open up and let 

 them go. Rut you might as well use a half-bushel basket as 

 to place them in a basket, or a device with a canvas like that, 

 and then take them out again. You do not want to handle 

 your fruit any more than you can help, and in picking it 

 off the tree and putting it in the basket carefully you can 

 prevent it from being bruised. You do not want a package 

 where you have got to drop it in. You have got to handle 

 apples carefully. It is the only safe way to handle them. A 

 good many growers use an ordinary water pail. 



A Member : I was reading where some of your peo- 

 ple take a pail and pick them in water. 



Mr. Castner : I don't know about that. You will 

 have to get that from somebody that knows more about it 

 than I do. The idea is that we have found from the aver- 

 age crop ever\- year that it pays to pick carefully, and it 

 pays to thin, and thin well. A man starting in will often- 



