330 FRUIT AND ITS CULTIVATION, 



be remembered that several days often elapse before it 

 reaches the consumer, so that it has time to become over- 

 ripe or even partially rotten if too ripe when picked. More- 

 over, shopkeepers do not like to buy fruit that is likely 

 to go bad on their hands before they can dispose of all of 

 it. On the other hand, if gathered too early, the full 

 flavour will not have developed by the time the fruit is 

 consumed, and it is likely to shrivel. 



But the chief point about gathering is to avoid bruising 

 by rough handling. Pickers are apt to treat apples, for 

 instance, as though they were potatoes, pouring them 

 freely from one basket into another, instead of which they 

 ought always to be transferred by hand. 



It is generally advised that baskets padded with wood- 

 wool or cotton-wool covered with canvas or tiffany, should 

 be used for gathering; but it is doubtful if large growers 

 ever go to this expense and trouble. They want such a 

 lot of baskets in use at one time that they generally fall 

 back on the bushel and half-bushel baskets received from 

 the salesmen. The wooden baskets known as trugs, or 

 bodges, in different parts of the country are also useful to 

 pick into, but they would be very much the better for pad- 

 ding or a lining of felt. We have seen wooden trays or 

 boxes made for sprouting seed potatoes employed for fruit 

 ricking. They are very suitable for the purpose, because 

 they can be stood one on top of the other without injury 

 to the fruit, owing to the ends being higher than the sides, 

 and this is very convenient in both fruit room and carts. 

 These could, of course, be lined with felt, though we have 

 not found it necessary where the fruit was put into them 

 with reasonable care. 



The above remarks apply chiefly to Apples and Pears, 

 which have to be removed from the field to the buildings 

 for grading and packing. Most offier kinds of fruit 

 unless it be choice Plums can be gathered straight into 

 the baskets in which they will be marketed, being graded 

 at the same time where necessary, though many of the 

 bush fruits need no grading. 



