284 Fruit-growing in Arid Regions 



Packing Cherries 



Growers outside of Oregon and Washington are raising 

 simply canning cherries. While the inter-mountain or- 

 chardmen are beginning to grow some of the fancy varie- 

 ties, they are really not growing a fancy grade or shipping 

 them in a fancy package. 



At present the bulk of the cherry crop of most sections 

 is sold in strawberry crates. Different styles of crates 

 are used, the common crate holding twenty-four quart 

 boxes, the square or oblong form being used more often 

 than any other. Of the two, the square box is possibly 

 a little easier packed and faced. Regardless of the box, 

 the packing is the same. The first requirement is that 

 each box shall contain a pound of fruit, and the twenty- 

 four-basket crate should weigh about thirty pounds gross. 

 The boxes should be faced with no stems showing, if the 

 package is to make an attractive appearance, and most 

 shipping associations require the grower to face the pack- 

 age in this way. The fruit should be well colored for the 

 variety and of good size; it should also be sound and 

 must not have stems loosened or pulled off. 



Fancy cherries are largely shipped in ten-pound boxes. 

 The inside dimension of this box is l&jr X 9 x 2\ inches. 

 It is divided in the middle and gives two cells 9 X 9 X 2 J. 

 The cherries are packed in layers, the face of the package 

 showing no stems. 



Figure 78 shows the different-sized packages that are 

 used in shipping cherries. They hold thirty, ten, and 

 eight pounds respectively, while the individual cartons 

 shown at the top contain but one pound. When first 



