94 TOMATO CULTURE 



packages; the remainder of the crop was sorted over 

 and from one-tenth to one-fifth of it rejected and fed 

 to stock or sold to a local cannery. The remainder 

 was sent to Chicago w ith his selects, but as common 

 stock, and usually brought more than his neighbors 

 received for unsorted fruit ; but the check he received 

 for his selects was usually as large as that for his 

 commons, thus giving him about 33 1-3 per cent, 

 more for his crop than his neighbors received for 

 their equally good, but unsorted, fruit — to say noth- 

 ing of what he received for the rejected fruit and the 

 saving of freight which, he said, was usually enough 

 to pay the actual cost of sorting. 



Tomatoes are usually classed as vegetables but, 

 when ripe, they require as careful handling as the 

 most delicate fruits and are as easily and seriously 

 injured by bruising and jarring. Just how this can 

 be avoided and the fruit gotten from the vine to the 

 possibly distant consumer in the best condition will 

 vary in dififerent cases. Tomatoes from the South 

 (Fig. 29) are generally marketed in carriers which, 

 though varying somewhat, are essentially alike and 

 consist of an open basket or boxes of veneer holding 

 about 10 pounds of fruit. When shipped, two, four 

 or six of these are packed in crates made of thin 

 boards, so as to protect the fruits but give them plenty 

 of air. 



Packing. — Most of the fruit sent to New York 

 and Philadelphia markets from New Jersey and other 

 northern states is in boxes or crates holding about 

 ^i of a bushel and so made as to facilitate ventilation 

 when piled in cars or warehouses. Fruit for the 



