266 HORTICULTURE FOR SCHOOLS 



clear appearance when removed from the container. Wrap- 

 ping prevents bruising and the wrapping material absorbs 

 some moisture. Moisture, as has already been stated, facili- 

 tates the growth of decay-producing organisms. The wrap- 

 per tends also to isolate any individual fruit to which decay 

 has gained entrance and the injury is, therefore, less general 

 than it otherwise would be. 



The operation of wrapping is performed quickly. The 

 packer takes the paper in his left hand and the fruit in his 

 right. He throws the fruit into the center of the paper and 

 with a quick twist wraps it while in the act of placing it in 

 the box. Some packers place with the right hand, others 

 with the left. This placing must be done firmly but at the 

 same time not too roughly. 



All fruits are arranged systematically in packing except 

 grapes, cherries, and berries. These are placed in the container 

 without arrangement and then faced; that is, the top layer is 

 packed regularly so as to give the fruit a neat and uniform 

 appearance. When apples are packed in barrels, they are 

 placed without arrangement or assortment in the barrel and 

 the top layer is faced. In some localities in the United States, 

 apples are packed in the same way in boxes. As a rule, how- 

 ever, box-packs are arranged in layers. 



These are two common arrangements in the box, the 

 straight and the diagonal. The fruit adjusts itself better to 

 the package with the diagonal than with the straight pack. 

 It is, therefore, the more common system of the two. The 

 number of fruits in a tier will be determined by the size. 

 Oranges are fairly elastic and can be adjusted to the container. 

 Apples are less so and also vary greatly in shape, so that the 

 arrangement of a given size may have to be modified to fit 

 the box. In general, the size of the box has been determined 

 by the best arrangement of the fruit within and, in some cases, 

 more than one size has been adopted to facilitate the packing 

 of different sizes of fruit. 



