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crate, having a capacity of % bushel, divided into two-sections. The 

 basket is used by some growers exclusively. The baskets are com- 

 monly used for local markets or for shipping the finer quality of 

 peaches, and the crates are preferred for large shipments, because 

 they pack into cars to better advantage. Growers realize that peaches 

 must be put up in the most convenient and attractive packages to 

 suit the purchaser to insure ready sale, and therefore the Florida 

 crate, constructed to hold six baskets, without handles, each having 

 a capacity of about 10 Ibs. of peaches, are used to ship the best qual- 

 ity of peaches to such points as New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore 

 and Washington. Another form of package is the Michigan basket, 

 having a handle and a raised lid and a capacity of 20 pounds of 

 peaches. The use of these smaller packages brings greater profits. 

 Many a small basket of peaches would be carried home in an even- 

 ing by purchasers as is now done with grapes because they are at- 

 tractively packed and convenient to handle. Peaches are often re- 

 fused because the dealer will not break a crate when the purchaser 

 wants only a peck or half peck for a small family. Too many peach 

 growers do not grade their peaches and therefore their city dealer 

 grades them as having only inferior fruit to be sold accordingly. It 

 is in grading the fruit that the shipper makes and preserves his repu^ 

 tation and by this means he receives the phenomenally large prices 

 while his careless neighbor complains of low prices. The fruit 

 should all be in the same stage of ripeness carefully laid in the bas- 

 ket so that there will be no settling during handling, and no imper- 

 fect fruit should be put in the first grade lot. All inferior fruit 

 should be kept at home and whatever cannot be used at the evapo- 

 rator or canned should be fed to hogs. 



There is a proper time for the picking of peaches, which can be 

 determined only by experience. The fruit on a given tree does not 

 all ripen upon the same day and therefore cannot be picked at one 

 time. Three or four pickings over the same variety must be made 

 to put the fruit upon the market in the best condition, and thus 

 green fruit and over-ripe fruit is avoided. If the fruit has been 

 properly thinned after the June drop, there is but little work of se- 

 lection necessary, but if this important operation was neglected, 

 there w r ill be an abundance of second class fruit. The fruit is usually 

 picked in the half bushel peach baskets and too often receives no fur- 

 ther attention than to be covered and shipped. They should then be 

 assorted in the orchard or after hauling to the packing house or shed 

 and handled from one basket to another as if they were eggs. This 

 work cannot well be entrusted to hired labor, but must be reserved 

 by the grower, who should be able to testify to the quality of every 

 peach in the crates bearing his name. 



The hauling of peaches should be done upon wagons with 

 springs, and the greatest haste compatable with the necessary care 

 should be exercised to put the fruit on its way to market. Many 

 large peach growers have their orchards twelve or fifteen miles from 

 the nearest shipping station, with the ordinary country roads, which, 

 however, are likely to be at their best in the peach season. The ex- 



