128 FRUIT-GROWING 



of an automatic alarm. However, after a 

 layer of fruit has covered the bottom this auto- 

 matic feature ceases. 



In our own orchards we have found that a 

 special picking sack is the most convenient — 

 meaning that it is the cheapest to use. The 

 sacks with which we have had the best results 

 are made in New York and are fitted with 

 shoulder straps. The apples are put in through 

 a comparatively small opening at the top, while 

 the bottom is closed with a draw string which 

 hooks up and fastens in a ring under the top of 

 the contraption. We found that the pickers 

 could use such sacks and harvest more apples 

 in the same length of time than with any other 

 picking device. Equipped with such a sack one 

 girl picked sixty-four crates (a trifle more 

 than a bushel to the crate) in a ten-hour day. 

 Good pickers averaged upward of forty crates 

 a day. When we changed sacks we found that 

 the pickers were slowed down owing to the fact 

 that the new sack we were trying out was less 

 comfortable and the large wire braced opening 

 at the top got in the way of the worker. 



These may seem like small items, but it is 

 only by watching such little things that pro- 

 duction costs can be cut and, as I have said be- 

 fore and will probably say again, we must cut 

 our costs. Pickers are usually paid either by 

 the day or by the bushel. We have worked a 



