356 



FRUIT-GROWING 



FRUIT-GROWING 



handle fruit carefully is inherent in the labor and 

 in those who direct and advise it. A clumsy- 

 handed individual never makes a good picker or 

 packer, nor can the full efficiency of a labor force 

 be attained without a high-class foreman or man- 

 ager. The cause of bad handling frequently has its 

 roots in the system of labor management. Contract 

 labor, piece-work in picking, packing, and in other 

 handling operations, is fundamentally weak, as it 

 encourages large outputs, irrespective of the qual- 

 ity of the work. Labor paid by the day is likely to 

 be more efficient, provided it has competent super- 

 vision. More fruit is injured by careless handling 

 than fruit-growers suspect. Apples generally show 

 at least 10 per cent of the fruit with the skin 

 broken by dropping it into baskets or on the piles, 

 or by rough handling in other respects. Peaches 

 and the small-fruits are usually injured to a greater 

 extent, and 2 to 60 per cent of the oranges often 

 have the skin cut by the clippers in severing the 

 fruit from the branch. 



It is even more difficult to give specific advice 

 regarding the details of fruit -handling. A few 

 definite matters may be brought to the reader's 

 attention. The stem should be left on all fruit 

 when it is picked ; lay it carefully in the picking 

 receptacle, and pour it out with equal care. Place 

 it in the shipping package gently, pack it firmly to 

 prevent movement in transit, but be careful not to 

 bruise the fruit in covering the package. Caps and 

 cushions on apple barrels prevent injury, and a 

 fruit-wrapper is a mechanical protection against 

 bruising. Caution the pickers, especially, about 

 pressing the fingers against the tender fruits, such 

 as the peach or the small-fruits, or light-colored 

 fruits like the Yellow Bellflower or Rhode Island 

 Greening apples. It discolors the fruit, but may 

 not cause decay unless the skin is broken. Pick 

 the larger fruits in baskets or pails. Do not use a 

 picking-bag for these fruits, except for the citrus 

 fruits, as the fruit is more likely to be injured. 

 Caution the pickers against striking the fruit on 

 the spurs or branches in taking it out of the trees. 



Place the fruit in the shade as soon as it is 

 picked, and leave it exposed to the cool night air 

 before packing, if the fruit is picked after ten 

 o'clock in the morning. The fruit picked early in 

 the morning may be packed at once, or quickly 

 stored, if designed for cold-storage. The tempera- 

 ture of the fruit may be 10° to 30° cooler in 

 the morning than at midday. This represents the 

 measure of cooling that takes place in one to five 

 days in transit in a refrigerator car. The use of 

 the night air for cooling is especially adapted to 

 the Pacific coast and to high altitudes, where there 

 is a wide difference between the temperature of 

 night and day. 



Draw the fruit to the packing - house or to the 

 shipping point on spring-wagons, and provide each 

 wagon with a tarpaulin, if the fruit has to be 

 drawn some distance in the sun. There may be a 

 difference of 5 per cent of decay in Florida oranges 

 drawn on spring-wagons and on wagons without 

 springs. 



After the fruit is picked, ship it or store it in 



the quickest possible time. The ripening processes 

 progress with a bound as soon as the fruit is 

 picked, especially in hot weather. A cool tempera- 

 ture checks the ripening and retards the develop- 

 ment of the diseases. Do not pile apples in the 

 orchard either before or after packing for any 

 length of time, and do not allow the fruit to remain 

 in the packing -house, except in cool weather. 

 Rough handling, coupled with a delay in shipping 

 or storing the fruit, causes more of the large com- 

 mercial losses in storage or in transportation than 

 all other factors combined. 



The packing-house. 



A large fruit-farm should be equipped with a 

 packing-house so arranged that the fruit is un- 

 loaded from the field at one end or side of the 

 house, and is taken out after packing at the other 

 end or side. Packing -tables should be placed 

 lengthwise between the entrance and exit to avoid 

 carrying fruit around the tables. The hou.se should 

 be provided with doors and windows which can be 

 opened at night. Small-fruits may be packed in 

 temporary sheds in the field. Apples and pears that 

 are to be shipped at once may usually he packed 

 more cheaply in the' orchard, on temporarily 

 erected platforms and sorting devices. It is an 

 advantage to have the sorting-tables on wheels if 

 the work is done in the field. Fruit that is to be 

 wrapped and packed in boxes, or is to be put up 

 with special care, can usually be handled best in a 

 packing -house. The packing -house may be part 

 of a storage-plant or may be erected separately. 



The fruit package. 



It is wise for the average fruit-grower to use 

 the type of package and to follow the general style 

 of packing employed in the packing of fruits in his 

 neighborhood. Special types of packages are appli- 

 cable to a special trade, but it does not usually pay 

 to introduce a new package or method of packing 

 in the general trade unless the fruit can be shipped 

 in large quantities, and can be skilfully advertised. 

 The fruit trade is conservative and suspicious in 

 its attitude toward innovations. Buyers become 

 used to a certain style of package and packing for 

 the fruits of a region. They calculate the charges 

 of cartage, storage and other things on these types 

 of packages, and they do not like to adopt a new 

 method of reckoning. A slight change in the design 

 of the label on an established brand of oranges 

 from California has been known to cost the shipper 

 several thousand dollars before the error could be 

 rectified. This attitude of the fruit trade is due, in 

 no small measure, to the large extent of dishonest 

 packing and grading, leading the buyer to suspect 

 that a new package or label or method of pack- 

 ing is a new way of deceiving the purchaser. The 

 grower who ships to the general market will make 

 the greatest progress by improving the grade of 

 the fruit and the uniformity of the pack. The 

 grower who ships to a special trade may use any 

 type of package that is attractive. He may wrap 

 the fruit, embellish it with tinsel, or fix it up in 

 any other way that gives artistic effect. 



