The Canadian Horticulturist. 295 



NOTES FROM MAPLEHURST.— III. 



PACKAGES. 



HE question of the most suitable packages for our choicest 

 fruits is a very important one and one that will never be fully 

 , settled, because we as growers are becoming more and more 



j^JcT" fastidious in our requirements, and our basket factories are 

 VJ|^-^ constantly improving their appliances with a view of meeting 

 i^ our wishes. The patent cover made at Walkerville has already 

 been illustrated in these columns. It works well, and the only 

 objection to its use is its expense. Two cents is rather a high 

 price to pay for a cover to put on a basket which is itself only 

 worth three and a-half cents. The leno cover, which we have been using so 

 constantly during the last ten years for almost every kind of fruit, costs about 

 one cent per basket, which is enough money certainly in these days of low 

 prices. It shows the fruit to good advantage, and, were it not for the piling of 

 the baskets in our express cars, nothing more would be needed ; but, until better 

 arrangements for carrying our fruit are furnished, it will be necessary for growers 

 to consider how best to protect their fruit from injury. 



-The tribow basket is becoming popular with growers at Winona. The 

 illustration (Fig. 50), taken from a photograph, will give our readers a better 

 idea of this basket than we would possibly do by a description of it. Tribow 

 means simply three handles, and in this consists its peculiarity. The handle 

 serves as a complete protection for the fruit. The baskets may be piled upon 

 one another, as high as may be necessary, without injury to the fruit ; and fur- 

 ther, the handle will so separate layers of baskets from one another as to afford 

 a free circulation of air, \vhich is certainly an advantage in a long shipment. 

 The same objection is made against the use of these baskets as against the pro- 

 tection cover, because the cost of the leno and the extra handle about equals 

 that of the patent cover. 



A two-handled basket has been lately invented at Grimsby with a bar across 

 the top from one handle to the other. This would seem to answer the same 

 purpose as the three handles and could, possibly, be made at a less expense. 



Our own habit has been to use the ordinary baskets and to slip wooden 

 covers over the leno for protection, upon which the address is neatly stencilled ; 

 but this is not an economical plan. A great deal of fruit is put up in small 

 packages, which would be much better sold in larger bulk. Thus we find a 

 great quantity of apples coming into the market to be sold in 1 2-quart baskets, 

 instead of in barrels, and we also see many grapes going into the market in 

 three and five pound baskets, instead of the fifteen and twenty pound bas- 

 kets. Peaches and pears, too, are sometimes put up in six-quart baskets, 



