THE miE TO GATHER FRUIT 



53 



Various attempts have been made to transport 

 figs from the country to canneries located in cities, 

 but results have been disappointing. The fruit is 

 so perishable that it is invariably impaired in shape 

 and quality. One of the best equipped canneries in 

 the South, especially designed for preserving figs, 

 wa^ dismantled after the first season in a city, and 

 has since been used for a warehouse, while all the 

 costly machinery has gone to the country dis- 

 tributed among small canneries located near orch- 

 ards. In order to transport to a distance the fruit 

 must be picked too green to have flavor, and the 

 final product is not only inferior, but more ex- 

 pensive, requiring a larger amount of sugar. 

 While ripening Magnolia figs more than double in 

 size during the last two or three days ; for shipping 

 they are picked so green as to weigh only forty 

 pounds per bushel: if allowed to remain upon the 

 trees another day their weight is increased eight 

 pounds a bushel; if not picked until thoroughly 

 ripe they weigh about sixty-two pounds a bushel. 

 This rapid growth is caused by the accumulation 

 of juice in the fruit, so that not only is it heavier 

 than when green, but each fig is larger. Therefore, 

 the gain is four-fold : the size of each fig is greater, 

 the cells become filled with natural syrup, the pro- 

 portion of sugar is increased and flavor is im- 

 proved: it is difficult to find any mechanical process 

 which will make such rapid gain in size, weight, 

 quality and flavor. These considerations so com- 



