234 



PICKING AND HANDLING FRUIT 



Picking equipment. For most fruits this consists of some 

 type of ladder and some kind of receptacle, usually a basket. 



There are all kinds of ladders on the market, but two kinds 

 especially commend themselves. In step-ladders the kind shown 

 in Figure 111 is preferable. It has only one leg in front, which 

 enables the operator to establish it firmly on the ground much 

 more quickly than can be done with the four-legged kind, and 



- incidentally it is much more 

 firmly established. The spread 

 of the ladder proper at the 

 bottom also helps to make it 

 a very stable ladder. 



Then for old apple trees or 

 other large-sized trees the 

 best ladder is what is gener- 

 ally known as the orchard 

 type of ladder, where the two 

 side-pieces come together in a 

 point. This makes it much 

 easier to establish the ladder 

 firmly against the tree than 

 is the case with the other 

 type of ladders in which the 

 two side-pieces run parallel 

 or nearly so. Both types of 

 these ladders are shown in 

 Figure 115. 



A very satisfactory pick- 

 ing receptacle is a smooth oak 

 picking basket such as is shown in Figure 112. For perishable 

 fruits it ought to be lined. Another good picking receptacle which 

 is strongly recommended by many western fruit growers is the 

 galvanized iron pail. Besides being a perfectly rigid affair 

 with no tendency to allow the fruit to squeeze down along the 

 edges of the receptacle, as it will do in a flexible one, the pail 

 possesses the additional advantage that the foreman can tell 

 by the sound when a picker throws an apple into it. This last 



FIG. 111. Picking cherries. Notice the 

 type of step-ladder, broad at the bottom and 

 with only one leg in front. 



