298 Fruit-growing in Arid Regions 



of the box as between pears. With the first row of the 

 tier in place with the butts to the lower end of the box, 

 the position of all other pears in the tier is reversed, 

 the stem toward the packer or the lower end of the box. 

 In the four-tier pack the second row will contain only two 

 pears, and they will be placed one on either side of the 

 center pear of the first row. The third row contains three, 

 the fourth two, and so on until the opposite end of the box 

 is reached. Here the last rows butt against the other end 

 of the box. Starting again at the lower end of the box, 

 two pears are placed in the first row of the second tier, 

 one on either side of the center pear of the first row of the 

 first tier, and the tier is completed as the first. The third 

 and fourth tier start with three and two pears respec- 

 tively. In this way the pears of each succeeding layer fit 

 down between the pears in the tier below. In the five- 

 tier pack the only difference is that each row across the 

 box contains three pears, the adjacent rows of each tier 

 starting on opposite sides of the box, and the first row of 

 succeeding tiers start on opposite sides of the box. To 

 make the latter point plain, suppose the first pear of the 

 first tier is in the lower left-hand corner, then the first pear 

 of the second tier will be in the right-hand corner. The 

 larger pears are worked toward the center of the box to 

 give it the desired bulge, or if they run quite uniform in size, 

 the same result may be accomplished by crowding the 

 pears a little closer together in the center. While we still 

 find some five-tier pears packed 3-4, this pack should be 

 avoided whenever possible. Six-tier pears are some- 

 times packed 3-4, and it is not objectionable if the total 

 number of pears does not run too high. 



