236 



PICKING AND HANDLING FRUIT 



A word also ought to be said in regard to the containers 

 which are used to carry the fruit from the orchard to the pack- 

 ing house. If possible these should not be the packages which 

 are to be sent to market. Some veiy large peach growers make 

 a practice of taking the regidar basket in which the fruit is to 

 be shipped right into the orchard, but in most cases this is not 

 done. And where it can be avoided it is certainly better not to 

 use them, for the baskets are bound to get soiled and broken 



Fig. 114. — Picking apples into bags. These may be all right with very careful men 

 and have the advantage of leaving both hands free, but the fruit is almost sure to be bruised 

 with the least carelessness. 



more or less in their trip from the storehouse to the orchard and 

 back again. For the smaller fruits, like plums and peaches, the 

 picking basket shown in Figure 116 is excellent for transporting 

 the fruit from orchard to packing house, and it will last much 

 longer if oiled. For apples and pears either a heavy orchard 

 box should be used or else barrels. In either case it is much 

 better if these receptacles are kept expressly for this purpose. 

 Second-hand barrels are entirely satisfactory and the heavy 



