88 



PEACH CULTUSB. 



Fig. 12. BEECHEB 

 BASKET. 



can be. The stave basket at five cents, and holding five- 

 eighths of a bushel, is not very expensive. A rival has, 

 however, very recently appeared in the shape of a paper 

 basket of the same size and a shade cheaper. It was 

 exhibited at a peach growers' meeting 

 held at Dover, in June, 1887, but 

 growers seemed doubtful of its suffi- 

 ciency. The doubts expressed were 

 these. That the ventilation was not 

 sufficient; that it was not strong 

 enough, and that the juice of soft 

 peaches would draw taste or color from 

 the material. These were, of course, 

 only doubts, but they were strong enough to prevent its 

 sale in any considerable quantities, especially as the re- 

 duction in price was not sufficiently tempting to take the 

 risk. And up to this time we may say that the stave 

 basket has no superior, and scarcely a rival. 



Whatever packages may be adopted, they should be 

 procured in good time, as it often 

 happens that just in the bight of the 

 season, when most wanted, they are 

 most difficult to obtain. The quan- 

 tity a planter may need will depend 

 not only upon the size of his crop, 

 but also upon two or three collateral 

 circumstances. If the baskets are 

 to be returned, as heretofore, he will 

 need one basket for every three of 

 fruit ; but if he sells his baskets with 

 his fruit he will, of course, need as many baskets as he 

 has baskets of fruit to put in them. 



Planters used to insist upon the return of "empties," 

 as they were called, but that is not nearly so much the 

 case now, and the present tendency is decidedly to lefc 

 the basket go with the fruit. The basket question has 



Fig. 13. PAPER 

 BASKET. 



