410 The Principles of Fruit-growing. 
and immature. It is largely the beauty of the American 
apple which sells it; therefore, the color should be well ad- 
vanced before the apple is picked. Hand pick the finest 
very carefully. It is advisable to barrel and ship as soon 
as picked, rather than to store the fruit for some days in 
piles in the orchard. 
“Packing.—Sort carefully. Very fine fruit should be marked 
‘Fancy’ or ‘Selected,’ with four X’s (XXXX), and with the 
grower’s or shipper’s name or initials. The second grade 
should be good, und marked with three X’s. Nothing lower 
than this should be exported. The English law requires that 
the package be plainly marked ‘American Produce.’ Use only 
standard size barrels. Put in w double row of facers. Apples 
somewhat soft in texture, like Greenings, may be pressed down 
a full inch in barreling, but hard apples should not be 
squeezed so much. Nail the barrels securely. If the apples 
become loose in transit, they will be very much injured. 
“Methods of sale.-—Apples are sold in the English markets 
by sample. Two barrels of a lot are selected, one opened 
to show the packing, the other turned out so that every 
apple can he seen. The lot is then sold at auction. The 
first day of sale they are sold as ‘sound.’ These are de- 
livered within twenty-four hours. Any loose barrels, known 
as ‘slacks’ or ‘slack packed,’ and any from which the juice 
is running, called ‘wets,’ are closed out at the succeeding sale.” 
Shiftless packing really accounts for more than 
one-half of all the unsatisfaetory returns from fruit. 
This fact is commonly acknowledged to be true by 
the fruit-growers themselves, and it is annually im- 
pressed upon them dy teachers, buyers and con- 
sumers, and yet if is an astonishing facet that the 
great majority of all our fruits are cither not packed 
and graded at all, or else the work is done in the 
ost careless manner. The castern fruits are often 
better in quality than the Californian fruits, and 
