HANDLING AND SHIPPING FRESH CHERRIES AND PRUNES. 17 

 IMPORTANCE OF CAREFUL HANDLING AND GRADING. 



An average of all the tests made during the season of 1911 indicates 

 the urgent necessity of improvement in field and packing-house 

 handling. Every precaution should be exercised in picking, hauling, 

 packing, and all harvesting operations to avoid bruising or me- 

 chanical injury of any kind. In picking, the fruit should be grasped 

 by the stem and placed by hand in a bucket or picking receptacle 

 and should be handled in such a way as to disturb the bloom as little 

 as possible. What has been said regarding cherries will hold equally 

 true for primes. Every precaution should be taken to transfer the 

 fruit from the bucket to the lug box without allowing the fruit to 

 drop or roll violently any distance or to rub off any more bloom than 

 is consistent with the handling that has to be given it. Oftentimes 

 it is the practice in the Willamette Valley to pick only the lower 

 branches of the trees, leaving the fruit in the upper branches for 

 drying or evaporation. In such cases it is sometimes possible to pick, 

 at least for a portion of the time, directly into the lug box. Even 

 if this extra care takes a little more time it is entirely practicable, 

 and in minimizing the injury and consequent decay the slight added 

 cost of handling is more than compensated for. 



The fruit should be kept in the shade while in the orchard after 

 picking and should be hauled to the packing house on wagons 

 equipped with good springs. The load should also be covered with 

 canvas or some other covering to protect it from the sun and dust. 

 In packing, much bruising and injury' can be avoided by sorting and 

 packing directly from the lug box instead of pouring the fruit out in 

 -bins or on tables, as is oftentimes the practice. The preservation of 

 the bloom is a very important factor in the marketing of fresh 

 prunes. When the prunes are poured into bins or on tables, much 

 of the bloom is rubbed, off that could be preserved if the fruit were 

 packed and sorted directly from the lug box. 



It is certain that if fresh-prune shipping is to become a profitable 

 and established phase of the marketing of this crop in the Willa- 

 mette Valley, much greater care must be devoted to the handling and 

 grading of the fruit. Not only should care be exercised to avoid 

 mechanical injuries of every kind, but closer grading is absolutely 

 necessary, in order that the fruit may at least leave the packing house 

 in good, sound condition. Usually insufficient care is exercised in 

 grading and in sorting out injured, soft, and cull fruit. This failure 

 to grade and cull closely is partially responsible for the fact that 

 occasionally the fruit shows some decay and deterioration prior to 

 shipment. Brown-rot is also a considerable factor, and the decay 

 data for both seasons include that caused by brown-rot, as it was 

 quite impossible to separate this from other forms at all times. 



