FRUIT HARVESTING OPERATIONS 13 
ally there are wire claws which are supposed to pull 
off the fruit. Some of them have long tube-like sacks 
made of cloth through which the fruit can roll down 
and be caught in a receptacle at the lower end. On a 
commercial basis none of these fruit-picking tools have 
ever proved successful. They are good for sampling or 
for picking specimen fruit for shows, etc., but are alto- 
gether too slow for 
commercial work. 
Ladders. — There 
are but two kinds of 
ladders commercial- 
ly used in an orch- 
ard. One, the com- 
mon step- ladder 
(Fig. 7 b.),the other 
the long or rung- 
ladder (Fig. 7 a.). 
The step-ladders are 
about 8 or 10 feet 
high, and have only 
three legs. The third 
leg is reinforced at 
the top by braces Fig. 8—A CONVERTIBLE STEP-LADDER 
and comes to a point 
on the ground. This is necessary because of the 
general unevenness of the orchard land. The three- 
legged ladder can always maintain an even position 
while it is usually difficult to properly set a 
four-legged ladder. The rung or long ladders are made 
of light material and always small enough so that 
one man can handle them alone, It is a waste of time to 
