288 AMEEICAN POMOLOGY. 



Many large orchardists prefer to select their fruit from 

 the picking baskets, and pack at once in new barrels, 

 which are made for this special purpose, and are not so 

 tiglit as those used for flour. In packing these, it is desi- 

 rable to place the fruit carefully in layers, filling the space 

 completely as the work proceeds, putting each specimen 

 down by hand, and when the vessel is filled to about an 

 inch above the chine, the heads are put on, a follower 

 placed upon them, and the whole brought under the pres- 

 sure of a lever, which forces the mass together so that 

 there shall be no possibility of motion among the fruit. 

 It is better that the outer layers should be somewhat in- 

 dented by the barrel heads, than that the whole should be 

 spoiled by the bruising that would follow from loose pack- 

 ing. These barrels are often left under the trees for some 

 time, or they may be placed under an open shed for pro- 

 tertion, prior to transportation. It is a common practice, 

 before barreling, to deposit the fruit in piles as it is gath- 

 ered, giving it only a covering of straw to allow it to 

 throw off a part of its moisture, a process generally term- 

 ed sweating. Now it cannot be gainsaid that there may 

 be an escape of the fluids by transpiration through the 

 pores of the skin, and we know that there is a loss of 

 weight and even of plumpness, in many varieties, by ex- 

 posure in a dry atmosphere ; but the excessive moisture 

 observed upon the surface of fruits that have been exposed 

 to a low temperature, when they are brought into a 

 warmer apartment, is unquestionably the simple precipita- 

 tion of atmospheric moisture, and entirely independent of 

 the juices of the fruit itself. The advantages of this 

 method of treatment are, that more time is given for the 



