FRUIT HARVESTING OPERATIONS 



13 



ally there are wire claws which are supposed to pull 

 off the fruit. Some of them have long tube-like sacks 

 made of cloth through which the fruit can roll down 

 and be caught in a receptacle at the lower end. On a 

 commercial basis none of these fruit-picking tools have 

 ever proved successful. They are good for sampling or 

 for picking specimen fruit for shows, etc., but are alto- 

 gether too slow for 

 commercial work. 



Ladders. There 

 are but two kinds of 

 ladders commercial- 

 ly used in an orch- 

 ard. One, the com- 

 mon step- ladder 

 (Fig. 7 &.), the other 

 the long or rung- 

 ladder (Fig. 7 a.). 

 The step-ladders are 

 about 8 or 10 feet 

 high, and have only 

 three legs. The third 

 leg is reinforced at 

 the top by braces 

 and comes to a point 



on the ground. This is necessary because of the 

 general unevenness of the orchard land. The three- 

 legged ladder can always maintain an even position 

 while it is usually difficult to properly set a 

 four-legged ladder. The rung or long ladders are made 

 of light material and always small enough so that 

 one man can handle them alone. It is a waste of time to 



Fig. 8. A CONVERTIBLE STEP-LADDER 



