PACKING PEARS FOR MARKET. 93 



packed in the ordinary way. I was at the store 

 when they arrived. On opening the barrels, the 

 fruit had settled, and it did not look as well as I 

 expected. The commission merchant told his man 

 to repack one of the barrels for my benefit, and re- 

 quested me to wait and witness the result. In fif- 

 teen minutes both barrels were exposed for sale. 

 Soon a buyer was on hand ; the repacked barrel sold 

 readily for fifteen dollars, while the same person re- 

 fused to take the other barrel for ten dollars, although 

 in quality and quantity they were alike. 



This single instance taught me a valuable lesson 

 about packing pears for market. 



In every case, no matter how small the quantity 

 of fruit to be sold, pack in clean, sound barrels or 

 boxes. It is certainly poor economy to save ten 

 cents in buying a second-hand flour barrel, when you 

 are sure to lose more than five times that amount on 

 the price of the fruit, by having it packed in a soiled 

 barrel instead of a new one. 



When the fruit attains the proper stage of ripe- 

 ness for shipping, pick the pears by hand and put 

 them into baskets. Then take a barrel, turn it up- 

 side down, and remove the bottom by driving off the 

 hoops. Place some cheap white paper inside over 

 the lid and around the sides, fruit looks better 

 when the barrel is thus lined. The pears are then 



