232 CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



A rather more open house is used in the coast region of south- 

 ern California, by Mr. T. W. Ward, of Carpinteria : 



It is a slat house made of strips 1x2^ inches, put on one inch apart. 

 The roof is similarly constructed. There are two passages, on either side 

 of which are two shelves, one above the other, i. <?., eight in all. The shelves 

 are made of slats placed one-half inch apart, with sides a foot high. The 

 apples are spread on these shelves a foot or more deep. The floor is made 

 of slats, and there are bins on this also. The fruit must receive a thorough 

 sprinkling weekly, unless sufficient rain falls. The slats are close enough 

 to prevent birds doing damage, and the whole building is raised six inches 

 from the ground. 



In the mountain regions arrangements must be made for frost 

 exclusion, a consideration which does not apply to the valley and 

 coast. 



PICKING AND PACKING APPLES ON A LARGE SCALE 



Mr. C. H. Rodgers, a leading grower, and president of the 

 Santa Cruz County horticultural commission, gives the best meth- 

 ods in his district as follows : 



In the matter of picking, experience has evolved a number of rules 

 which should be strictly adhered to: 



(1.) Do not pull the apple off the tree. By so doing, the stem may 

 be detached from the apple, thus making a second grade of what otherwise 

 would be choice. 



The proper method of plucking the apple is to grasp it with the full 

 hand, not with the fingers only, and by a gentle twist and lateral movement 

 detach it with the stem attached. Especially must finger pressure be avoided 

 in the picking, as bruises thereby produced injure the value. 



(2.) The apple must never be dropped into a receptacle or from box 

 to box, but should be transferred as carefully as so many eggs. 



(3.) Under all circumstances use vehicles having springs in moving the 

 fruit. 



Once within the packing-house the more perishable varieties should be 

 handled immediately and forwarded to market, while the long-keeping 

 varieties, especially those intended for export, should be held at least a 

 month before sorting and packing. This latter precaution enables the 

 packer to discover and eliminate all diseased and defective fruit a thing 

 that would be impossible if the fruit were packed at an early date after 

 picking. 



Three grades or qualities are recognized in the "trade" first, second 

 and third. First grade includes only perfect fruit. Second grade includes 

 the fruit having a trivial surface blemish or stem absent. The third or cull 

 class includes all wormy, badly bruised or skin-broken apples. 



Though grading for size varies somewhat in different localities, in the 

 Watsonville district, the leading apple-prcducing center of the West, there 

 are but three sizes recognized. These are 3 l / 2 , 4, and 4 l / 2 tier. The unit 

 of size is the 4-tier, which comprises all apples running from 2^$ to 3^4 

 inches in diameter, and derives the name from the fact that when packed 

 in the box there are four rows of four apples each, both vertically and hori- 

 zontally across the end of the box. Apples in excess of 3% inches are 

 classed as 3^ tier size. The third size, or 4^-tier, includes those apples 

 ranging between 2y 4 and 2& inches in diameter. Both the 3^-tier and 

 4>^-tier are packed in the manner known as "diamond" pack or 'pear pack. 

 Apples smaller than 4 l / 2 tier are thrown into the cull pile. The sorter 

 ascertains the size by passing the apples through circular holes in a board. 



