392 The Principles of Fruit-growing 



profitable to ship in cases something like those used for 

 eggs, in which each individual fruit has a compartment or 

 receptacle of its own. If, in addition, the fruit is carefully 

 wrapped in these compartments, the very finest type of 

 packing will result. 



How to pack. 



The method of packing must depend very greatly on 

 the market to be reached, on the quality of the fruit, and 

 the package to be used. Ordinarily, women are better 

 fruit-packers than men, especially for the delicate fruits, 

 as peaches, the berries and grapes. Each individual fruit 

 or cluster should be placed in the package separately and 

 by hand. This is emphatically true of all the tender and 

 perishable dessert fruits. The specimens are ordinarily 

 laid in concentric rows, the first row being placed on the 

 outside of the bottom of the basket, and other circles 

 filling in the layer until it is full. Other tiers are then 

 placed in the same way. The top layer is placed with 

 special care, the stems of the fruits being all laid one way, 

 and the same side of the fruit (ordinarily the cheek) show- 

 ing uppermost. The top of the basket should present a 

 uniform and finished appearance, and should be slightly 

 rounding or oval in shape. There will ordinarily be a 

 difference of 10 to 30 cents a basket between good plums 

 or peaches sent to the market as they are picked from the 

 tree, and those properly packed and finished up. Whether 

 the extra sale price pays will depend, of course, on the 

 extra cost of the careful packing; and this cost will be 

 determined not only by the price of labor but also by the 

 care with which the fruit is grown, the quantity, the train- 

 ing of the packers and the facilities at their disposal. One 

 gains reputation as well as extra sales-price from carefully 

 packed fruits. 



