The Canadian Horticulturist. 271 



HANDLING APPLES FOR EXPORTATION. 



WILL give you my ideas and methods, which are based on the 

 experience of many years of active practical life in the orchard, 

 and I hope that what I shall write may induce some others to 

 take up the subject and give their methods and experience, so 

 that we may finally get at the best and most economical method 

 of placing our apple crop on the markets of the world. 



I start with the idea that fruit should be handled as carefully and as little 

 as possible, and so packed that it cannot move in the package until it is taken 

 out for consumption. To this end we must be provided with proper tools, viz., 

 baskets, ladders and sorting table, also packages and packing material. Baskets 

 of light ash or oak splits with swinging bails, holding about half a bushel, are 

 best, and should be lined with blanket or other thick woollen material, and have 

 a hook made of 5-16 inch iron, tied securely to the bail, to hang it to a branch 

 or the round of the ladder when picking. 



Ladders — Are made of light spruce poles cut at midsummer and peeled. 

 Bored for the bottom rounds with an inch bit, the middle Jg-inch and the upper 

 ^-inch, then ripped in two and seasoned under cover. Rounds are made of 

 seasoned white maple, lower one 2)/^ feet, upper 8 inches; the sides are brought 

 together above the upper round and secured with two or three clinch nails. 

 They are made of different lengths, and are very light and strong. 



Sorting Table. — This is made of ^4-inch pine, on a light frame well braced. 

 It is about 3^ by 7 feet with a 4-inch rim around the edge; the legs at one end 

 are short and attached to a long axled wheelbarrow wheel. The others are well 

 spread at the bottom to make the table steady, a pair of handles provided to 

 move it by, and a common, coarse grey blanket is spread on the table when in 

 use. 



Package. — We always use the barrel, and get the best made, neatest and 

 tightest dry barrel in the market, of full flour size. We try to lay these in early, 

 so that at odd times we may prepare them for use by nailing on the bilge hoops, 

 nailing in the heads and taking out the bottoms, but leaving them in the barrel. 

 We also lay in a stock of good white or manilla paper, cut in sheets 18 inches 

 square (round would be better), and a lot of excelsior shavings, finest grade. 



On commencing to pick, the sorting table is wheeled near, but not under, 

 the tree, the blanket spread on it, and a bit of board or plank laid on the ground 

 alongside to stand the barrels on. As the pickers fill their baskets they are 

 carefully emptied on the table, and the packer, after placing a thin layer of 

 excelsior in the barrel, puts a sheet of paper over it, and then " faces " the barrel 

 by laying the first layer of apples, stem down, until the layer is full, then filling 

 the barrel with the same grade directly from the table, occasionally giving the 



