PACKING APPLES. 61 
baskets into small boxes in the wagon. Excellent boxes 
for this purpose are empty grocer’s boxes which will hold 
about a bushel, or the contents of two baskets, and still 
not be.so full as to prevent other boxes being set on 
them. A hole should be made in each end large enough 
to admit the hand. Such boxes can be handled with 
dispatch. From these the apples can be sorted into bar- 
rels and the barrels can be headed up at leisure. It is 
imperative that the apples should not rattle in the barrel 
after it is headed. Apples shrink a little after they.are 
barrelled. They will usually sweat, also. Therefore, 
delay the heading up for some days. The barrel should 
be rather more than full when the head is put in. If 
the upper layer of apples is considerably bruised, no 
harm will result, especially if the head is soft wood, so 
that the juice is readily absorbed. It is better to jam 
these apples severely than to allow those in the interior 
to rattle. If the heading is done in a building, a lever 
press of simple construction does good work, but it re- 
quires two men, one to press and one to adjust the head. 
A lever press is nothing more than a lever under a girt 
with the barrel for a fulcrum. The ordinary screw press 
is troublesome. It persists in twisting to one side as soon 
as strong pressure is applied. ‘This may be remedied by 
having the iron standards thick and stiff and by securing 
a long set in which the screw shall work. If this set or 
thread is four or five inches deep, and if the wooden 
cross-bar in which it rests is correspondingly thick and 
heavy and well secured to the iron standards, the press 
should do good work. I have never seen such a press for 
sale ; it must be made to order. 
