410 The Principles of Fruit-growing. 



and immature. It is largely the beauty of the American 

 apple which sells it; therefore, the color should be well ad- 

 vanced before the apple is picked. Hand pick the finest 

 very carefully. It is advisable to barrel and ship as soon 

 as picked, rather than to store the fruit for some days in 

 piles in the orchard. 



"Packing. Sort carefully. Very fine fruit should be marked 

 'Fancy' or 'Selected,' with four X's (XXXX), and witli the 

 grower's or shipper's name or initials. The second grade 

 should be good, and marked with three X's. Nothing lower 

 than this should be exported. The English law requires that 

 the package be plainly marked 'American Produce.' Use only 

 standard size barrels. Put in a double row of facers. Apples 

 somewhat soft in texture, like Greenings, may be pressed dow"u 

 a full inch in barreling, but hard apples should not be 

 squeezed so much. Nail the barrels securely. If the apples 

 become loose in transit, they will be very much injured. 



"Methods of sale. Apples are sold in the English markets 

 by sample. Two barrels of a lot are selected, one opened 

 to show the packing, the other turned out so that every 

 apple can be seen. The lot is then sold at auction. The 

 first day of sale they are sold as 'sound.' These are de- 

 livered within twenty-four hours. Any loose barrels, known 

 as 'slacks' or 'slack packed,' and any from which the juice 

 is running, called 'wets,' are closed out at the succeeding sale." 



Shiftless packing really accounts for more than 

 one -half of all the unsatisfactory returns from fruit. 

 This fact is commonly acknowledged to be true by 

 the fruit-growers themselves, and it is annually im- 

 pressed upon them by teachers, buyers and con- 

 sumers, and yet it is an astonishing fact that the 

 great majority of all our fruits are either not packed 

 and graded at all, or else the work is done in the 

 most careless manner. The eastern fruits are often 

 better in quality than the Calif ornian fruits, and 



