FRUIT HARVESTING OPERATIONS 9 



Care in Picking. In removing the fruit from the 

 trees too much cannot be said in regard to the care in 

 handling. Much fruit is ruined by carelessness in pick- 

 ing. Often fruit is dropped into receptacles, poured 

 roughly into boxes or barrels, jolted over rough roads in 

 wagons without springs and in many ways handled so 

 carelessly that fully 50 or 75% of its market value is 

 wasted. A good picker should always work with both 

 hands. The fruit is grasped in the palm of the hand 

 and not between the thumb and finger. Often a very 

 slight pull is sufficient to remove the fruit, but in some 

 of the more persistent varieties, a twist and an upward 

 lift at the same time is necessary to get it off without 

 pulling on the stems. Good apples or fruit of any kind 

 should never be dropped or poured from one basket to 

 another. Every effort is made to handle the fruit as 

 carefully as possible, usually picking the fruit from one 

 package to another like an egg-sorter would handle eggs. 

 To the fruit grower who is familiar with the different 

 methods of picking, nothing is more disgusting than to 

 see a person step up to a nice peach or apple and stick 

 his thumb through the skin to see if it is soft enough 

 to eat. This almost invariably indicates ignorance or 

 gross carelessness. 



Succession of Pickings. In many apple sections, 

 what is commonly known as a "succession of pickings'* 

 is made. By this is meant the going over of the trees 

 several times, picking first the fruit which is the right 

 size and the best colored and then, a few days later, 

 repeating the process. This is an accepted rule among 

 deciduous fruit growers of plums, peaches, etc., but is 

 not generally practiced in the Northern or Eastern states 



