APPENDIX 221 



southern grapes are too low at present to justify express ship- 

 ments, and the business can only be permanently successful at 

 those points where enough are- grown to load refrigerator 

 cars. 



" Grapes are best gathered in flat wooden trays or boxes. 

 Twenty by thirty inches by six inches deep is a convenient 

 size. The bunches are cut from the vines with clippers made 

 for the purpose or with a sharp knife, and are placed carefully, 

 two layers deep, in these boxes. When full they may be 

 hauled to the packing house on a spring wagon. The two lay- 

 ers of clusters will not fill them quite full, so they may be 

 safely piled one on top of another in hauling. At the packing 

 house they should be stacked up in an open, well-ventilated 

 space, and should be crossed in piling so that the ends of each 

 box are freely exposed to the air. In a few hours the stems 

 will have wilted a little so that they will settle together limply. 

 They are now ready for packing. The Climax basket is more 

 used than any other package for grapes, and, everything con- 

 sidered, it is probably the best. It is an oblong basket with 

 aboard bottom, solid veneer sides, a solid veneer cover, and a 

 wooden hoop handle. The usual sizes hold about five and 

 eight pounds." 



