14 MODERN FRUIT MARKETING 
use a big ladder that two people will have to move. 
The top end or point should be drawn together so as 
to enable it to be pushed up through the limbs or the 
branches. A square top on the ladder is always ecatch- 
ing on the limbs and knocking off the fruit. The rungs 
' are made as 
large as possible, 
because it is 
tiresome work 
for a picker to 
stand all day on 
small pins, and 
the more one 
can contribute 
to the comfort 
of the picker, 
the better work 
he will do. 
Disposition of 
the Fruit. — It 
has been cus- 
Fig. 9A CONVENIENT HOME-MADE PICK. tomary among 
ING LADDER FOR LOW-HEADED TREES the growers of 
the Northern 
and Eastern states to put the apples on the ground in 
piles, protected from the soil by a little straw. These 
have been allowed to remain in the pile for several weeks, 
and frequently have been graded and packed in barrels 
direct from these piles. The argument in favor of this 
method was that the fruit which had started to decay 
would be discovered when it was regraded and could be 
thrown out. This, however, no longer applies, because if 
