PACKING PEARS FOR MARKET. 93 
packed in the ordinary way. I was at the store 
when they arrived. On opening the barrels, the 
fruit had settled, and it did not look as well as I 
expected. The commission merchant told his man 
to repack one of the barrels for my benefit, and re- 
quested me to wait and witness the result. In fit 
teen minutes both barrels were exposed for sale. 
Soon a buyer was on hand; therepacked barrel sold 
readily for fifteen dollars, while the same person re- 
fused to take the other barrel for ten dollars, although 
in quality and quantity they were alike. 
This single instance taught me a valuable lesson 
about packing pears for market. 
In every case, no matter how small the quantity 
of fruit to be sold, pack in clean, sound barrels or 
boxes. It is certainly poor economy to save ten 
cents in buying a second-hand flour barrel, when you 
are sure to lose more than five times that amount on 
the price of the fruit, by having it packed in a soiled 
barrel instead of a new one. 
When the fruit attains the proper stage of ripe- 
ness for shipping, pick the pears by hand and put 
them into baskets. Then take a barrel, turn it up- 
side down, and remove the bottom by driving off the 
hoops. Place some cheap white paper inside over 
the lid and around the sides,—fruit looks better 
when the barrel is thus lined. The pears are then 
