CABELESS PACKING. 91 



"covers a multitude of sins." Choice specimens 

 should not be placed on the top of the barrel ; for 

 purchasers usually " empty packages," and if the 

 fruit grows smaller in size and inferior in quality as 

 the bottom is neared, every one knows to what de- 

 cision the buyer will come. That brand will not be 

 sought for by the same party the second time. On 

 the contrary, if the fruit is uniform in size through- 

 out the barrel, not only is the same brand bought 

 again, but it becomes known in the market ; it will 

 always command the highest price, and will sell 

 readily, when the same kind of fruit carelessly 

 packed, is comparatively worthless. 



It is not an unusual sight to witness in the New 

 York market a barrel containing four or five differ- 

 ent varieties of pears, about as salable as " Mrs. 

 Toodles* Wheelbarrows" Large and small varieties, 

 fall and winter kinds, some with and others without 

 stems, evidently thrown into the barrel from a bush- 

 el basket, in the same rough way as is customary in 

 barreling potatoes or corn. The greater part of the 

 fruit packed in this way will rot before ripening, a 

 fact well known by all fruit dealers, and it must be 

 sold for anything offered, rather than have a total 

 loss. 



Specimens of such fruit and packing can, at 

 almost any time, be seen in passing through the fruit 



