394 The Principles of Fruit-growing 



The barrel is ordinarily headed up, then ended over, and 

 the opposite or originally faced end is stenciled, and this is 

 the end that the dealer is supposed to open. It fre- 

 quently happens, however, that the dealer, in order to 

 test the packing, opens the other or unintended end of 

 the barrel; and in selling large lots of apples, two or three 

 barrels are sometimes used as samples, and the entire 

 contents are rolled out on the packing-house or auction- 

 room floor. A barrel of winter apples properly faced and 

 packed is shown in Fig. 159, just as it was opened in 

 cold storage in March; a barrel of "slacks" is shown in 

 Fig. 160. 



The greatest care should be taken in the packing of 

 apples for export, because they are subjected to long and 

 trying transportation, the freight and incidental rates are 

 high, and only the best fruits will pay transportation 

 and other expenses. One reason why the foreign market 

 has sometimes been so poor for American apples is because 

 a great quantity of poorly sorted and poorly packed fruit 

 has been exported. The following suggestions for the 

 exporting of apples are condensed from a report made by 

 George T. Powell, to the New York Commissioner of 

 Agriculture, and will be found to be very useful: 



Kind of fruit wanted. — Only good fruit is wanted abroad. 

 The fruit-grower should begin months in advance to secure good 

 quality, by practicing good tillage, efficient fertilizing and thorough 

 spraying. Apples grown on trees which have imperfect (insect-eaten 

 and fungus-infested) foUage generally fail to carry in good condi- 

 ' tion to Europe. Standard fall and winter varieties are most in 

 demand in the export trade. Duchess and Twenty Ounce generally 

 sell well if picked while hard. Alexander is too soft. Baldwin, 

 Greening, Spy, King, Spitzenburg, Hubbardston (Nonsuch), New- 

 town (Pippin), Peck's Pleasant and late Russets are popular varie" 

 ties. Jonathan and other mediiim-sized apples are especially desired. 



