54 MAKING HORTICULTURE PAY 



SO as to reach the topmost limb, and each apple 

 picked and carefully placed in the picking basket 

 carried by the picker, or in the bag or apron sus- 

 pended from the neck or the body. Next the 

 apples should be carefully emptied under the tree 

 on straw prepared for them. There is a difference 

 of opinion among apple growers as to whether it 

 is best to let them lie a few days in piles under the 

 trees or to put them in barrels immediately, but I 

 am not prepared to express an opinion on that sub- 

 ject. 



" My remarks apply more particularly to market- 

 ing. For the fall and winter varieties, it is always 

 profitable to double-head. To do this, first obtain 

 new, clean apple barrels of the standard sizes ; the 

 standard apple barrel contains the same quantity 

 as a flour barrel, and the dimensions are as follows : 

 173^ inches diameter of head, 28^^ inches length of 

 stave, with 64-inch bulge outside measurement. 

 This standard size was adopted by the then Na- 

 tional, now International Apple Shippers' Associa- 

 tion in 1897, and has been made the legal standards 

 by most of the large apple-growing states. 



" Having secured barrels and before starting to 

 pack, see that one head is securely nailed, giving 

 the nails a slant, so the points will not puncture 

 the apples when put in; turn this nailed head down, 

 loosen the hoops of the other head, and with a slight 

 lick of the hatchet will drop in the barrel ; take it out 

 and lay it alongside the barrel. Now you are ready 

 to begin packing. If you are packing such varieties 

 as Ben Davis, York Imperial, Fallawater, Baldwin, 

 Greening, or other kindred sizes, nothing should be 

 put in the number ones under 2>^ inches in diam- 

 eter. If such varieties as Rambo, Grimes Golden, 



