70 



they should be carted to the packing shed, 

 which, for convenience in grading, should 

 contain a bench or table with ledges round 

 the edges to retain the fruit, the whole 

 covered with sacking or carpet to prevent 

 bruising. If sorted in three qualities and 

 waste, the first and second are sent to 

 market, the third kept at home, and sold 

 locally or made into apple jelly or cider. 

 Grading cooking apples is done entirely by 

 size, except that any specimens disfigured 

 by scab or misshapen are kept out of the 

 firsts and put into the seconds or thirds, 

 according to the extent of the blemish. 

 In the case of dessert varieties, colour is 

 quite as important as size, and the firsts 

 should include none that are not well 

 coloured and of good shape. Apples that 

 are cut or badly bruised should never be 

 sent to market, but placed in the thirds 

 with the very smallest. 



Before starting to pack, the baskets 

 should be prepared as follows : (1) Line the 

 sides with a strip of stout packing paper ; 

 (2) place a thin layer of wood-wool or clean 

 hay on the bottom ; (3) lap over the sides 

 two sheets of tissue paper, using pink for 

 firsts and blue for seconds. This paper 

 should reach the bottom of the basket, but 

 there must be enough overlap to cover over 

 the fruit when the basket is full. 



Having prepared the baskets, the apples 

 can be graded and packed into them direct 

 from the heap on the table, the packer 

 having a basket for firsts on one hand and 

 one for seconds on the other, with a re- 

 ceptacle for thirds somewhere handy. The 

 fruits should be packed in one by one in 

 layers, starting each layer round the out- 

 side of the basket. Some apples look best 

 on their sides, others eyes upwards. When 

 a basket is full it is put on the scales and 

 the weight adjusted (20lbs. net for half- 

 bushel, 40lbs. for bushel). The overlap- 

 ping tissue paper is then folded over the 

 top and tucked in, a little wood-wool or 

 hay laid over that, and the whole secured 

 with crossed benders, the points of which 

 fix under the rim of the basket. 



Salesmen, from my own experience, 

 do not generally encourage English apple 

 growers to pack in boxes, and prefer their 

 own baskets being used, but non-return- 

 able, standard-sized, half-bushel boxes for 

 finest apples of certain kinds will probably 

 become popular for English apples eventu- 



ally. Growers now have the opportunity 

 of seeing expert apple packers give demon- 

 strations in the box packing of apples at 

 the Kent and other county fruit shows. It 

 is a skilful job and needs practice. 



Pears are largely sent to market unripe 

 in bushels and half-bushels packed as de- 

 scribed for apples. Any ripe ones are 

 wrapped in paper and carefully packed in 

 peck baskets. They should never be 

 allowed to become quite ripe before being 

 marketed. They travel better if unripe, 

 and retailers like to have them ripen gradu- 

 ally after they receive them, otherwise 

 many go rotten before they can be sold. 

 Choice dessert pears of perfect shape pay 

 for packing in single-layer boxes holding 

 1 doz. or 2 doz., the fruit being nested in 

 fine wood-wool. 



In outdoor tomatoes, of which the ripen- 

 ing is largely finished in glasshouses, the 

 peck of 121bs. is the standard package. 



Cost of Fruit-Picking. 



The following gives some idea of the cost 

 of fruit picking in Kent, but, of course, 

 varies with crop and other conditions. 



Previous to the war, picking straw- 

 berries cost 3d. to 5d. per peck of 121bs., 

 nuw 6d., but much of the picking is done 

 "day work." ^d. per lb. used to be paid 

 per lb. punnet or without strig for jam. 



Raspberries cost now Id. per lb. to pick 

 in place of ^d. 



Gooseberries (green or ripe) used to 

 cost 4d. to 5d. per half-bushel of 28lbs. ; 

 now 9d. to Is. 



Red currants (with strig) used to cost 

 5d. to 8d. per half-bushel of 241bs. : now Is. 

 to Is. 6d. 



Red currants (without strig), for jam, 

 used to cost lOd. to Is. per half-bushel of 

 28lbs. 



Black currants (with strig) used to cost 

 6d. to Is. per half-bushel of 24lbs., ;.nd 

 (without strig) Is. 3d. per half-bushel of 

 281bs. ; now 2s. 4d. to 4s. with strig. 



Cherries, 6d. to 8d. per half-bushel of 

 24lbs. : now Is. 6(1. to 2s. 



Plums, 2d. to 4d. per half-bushel of 28lbs. 



Damsons, 5d. to lOd. per half-bushel of 

 281bs. : now 9d. to Is. 6d. 



Apples (large or small). Id. to 3d. per 

 bushel of 40 to 50lbs. ; now 3d. to 5(1. 



Pears, 4d. per bushel of 40 to 56lbs. 



