TnK Canadian Horticulturist. 345 



Packing Grapes for Market. The packing of grapes for market is a 

 delicate operation and one in which both care and judgment should be exercised 

 if the best results are desired. In the preparation of the fruit before it is matured 

 and ready for clipping, much attention is necessary. It will not do to allow 

 the grape-vines to fruit to their full capacity, any more than it will do to permit 

 peaches, plums, and apricots to set at will. Thinning is the first requisite in the 

 growing of perfect fruit, and especially is this true of grape growing. 



Having thinned your fruit bunches, bear in mind that when the grapes ripen 

 only perfect bunches should be picked for packing. Provide your pickers with 

 crates or trays holding about 25 pounds each. As fast as these trays are filled 

 have them carefully placed in the packing house in racks so that the bottoms of 

 one tier of crates will not rest on the fruit of the tray below it. In this packing 

 house the grapes should remain for from thirty to forty-eight hours before be- 

 ing packed in the baskets. This is for the purpose of permitting the stems to 

 wilt and thus admit of close and easy packing. 



This wilting process is one of the most essential points in successful packing. 

 Baskets can be filled without the danger of sweating, molding or crushing the 

 fruit, and will " hold out " in weight without settling. Unless this wilting pro- 

 cess is practised, grapes will go to market in second-class condition and bring 

 second-class prices. Pack solidly, selecting bunches that will " mate " well in 

 layering. Many grapes sent to market last year were poorly packed. Let the 

 error be avoided this year. — Field and Farm. 



Snide Packages. — The practice so prevalent of sending fruits to market in 

 short measure packages is nothing more or less than a device to deceive buyers, 

 and make them pay for what they do not get, and, in an occasional instance, when 

 goods are very scarce, is a success ; but the trade has become so accustomed to 

 such schemes that they usually examine the dimensions of the packages carefully 

 and avoid the " snide " stock, except at a greatly reduced price, and the sooner 

 shippers realize this fact the better for all concerned. The cost of package, 

 picking and freight, the labor of packing, nailing and handling a wine-measure 

 case of berries is just the same as an honest dry measure case, and the smal' 

 amount of berries saved to the grower is largely counterbalanced by the much 

 lower price the dealer is forced to accept when they reach the market, and is 

 aptly illustrated by the ancient bung and spiggot story. The sooner the ship- 

 pers realize the fact that buyers who are on the market every day are not such 

 idiots as not to know the difference between a peck and a third bushel box, or 

 between a full or short measure case of berries, that they have a great many 

 different lots to select from, that they are usually shrewd business men and close 

 buyers, that they buy with a view to the profit there is in the article, that they 

 are almost universally people that cannot be imposed upon, the sooner they will 

 realize the fact that it does not pay to use " snide " packages, and the sooner the 

 fruit trade will cease to be a "scalping," and become a legitimate business. — E. 

 P. HoM.isTER in Fruit Gr (rivers' Journal. 



