78 The Fruit-Growers Guide-Book 



produce is packed in small parcels. Red raspberries, for 

 example, are packed in small cups or boxes holding ap- 

 proximately a pint. On the other hand, winter potatoes, 

 a product that does not require such careful handling, are 

 packed in bags containing about 150 pounds. In the South- 

 ern states where the trucking industry has reached its 

 highest development, there is much care given to packing 

 vegetables, so as to have them reach the markets in the 

 finest possible condition as there is in the Western or- 

 charding sections to have the highly perishable fruits, such 

 as peaches, cherries and apples, to reach the markets in the 

 best condition. 



Potatoes 



While the potato is one product which can be handled 

 with the minimum of care, yet for the early potato it is 

 necessary to observe certain precautions against bruising 

 and breaking the tender and immature skin, and in getting 

 them properly packed so as to reach their distant market 

 with the least amount of loss from bruising. Early po- 

 tatoes need to be handled carefully from the time they 

 are taken from the soil until in the hands of the consumer. 

 They are sometimes dug with a machine made for digging 

 potatoes, -and sometimes with an ordinary "potato hook." 

 They should be gathered from the field as soon as possible 

 after digging to prevent their wilting and becoming sun- 

 burned or turned green through the development of chlo- 

 rophyll. Grading and packing may be done in the field 

 or they may be taken to the storage house and there pre- 

 pared for market. The crop requires as careful and uni- 

 form grading as any other farm product. The tubers 

 should be sorted according to size into first and second 

 grades. All scabby, second growth and injured specimens 

 should be rejected, and the different varieties kept separate. 



Early potatoes are generally packed in ventilated bar- 

 rels with a burlap cover, although in some sections the 

 barrels are double headed in the same manner as apples. 

 The 'potatoes are not "faced," but poured in carefully from 

 a small basket that can be lowered into the barrel. During 



