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to pick. We have had some experience in hiring Italians to pick 

 peaches, and it seems to be the rule with those we are able to obtain 

 in southern New Jersey that they want to test the maturity of the 

 fruit by pinching with the fingers and we find it a problem to get 

 them to pick it according to its color. 



The common commercial package that has been used in New 

 Jersey for a good many years, is the so-called Delaware peach 

 basket, as illustrated by Fig. i. This package, however, is going 

 out of use in New Jersey, especially the southern part of the state, 

 except where they can haul the peaches in to market by team, such 

 as to Philadelphia and other points. 



Let us consider for a moment the qualities desired in a com- 

 mercial package for shipping. First, the package should be cheap; 

 in the second place, it should be light, and it should be strong and 

 durable. A package that is easily opened or broken into is not de- 

 sirable. Fruit in a package of such size that it can be thrown easily 

 from one man to another is more likely to be damaged than fruit 

 in a heavier package. The box and the basket should be arranged 

 somewhat, the grade should be the same all the way through. Often- 

 times the commercial package of a district is the package used for 

 picking. The objections to the Delaware peach basket as a shipping 

 package or for a picking package, are that the baskets are not al- 

 ways well made, and accidents will occur; there is also a tendency 

 to throw them sometimes when they are being loaded into a car 

 rapidly. And when it comes to the matter of a cover for shipping 

 this package, a burlap or a wooden cover is used. I think that the 

 burlap cover should be discarded in all cases, unless for a local 

 market. I have seen baskets of peaches ready for market, piled one 

 above another with nothing between the fruit in the top of one 

 basket and the wooden bottom of another except the burlap. The 

 wooden cover is much to be preferred to the burlap cover as it will 

 give more protection to the surface of the fruit. 



Fig. 2 illustrates the Delaware basket with a so-called wooden 

 cover. This cover will protect the top of the fruit much better than 

 burlap, and is less easily removed in transit, but in order to prevent 

 this package being slack when it goes into the market, it has to be 

 very full and tightly packed. From the standpoint of the New York 

 market, this package is not very well liked by the New York com- 

 mission men. The same grade of fruit in this commercial package 

 will not sell as well as in the Georgia carrier. On an average we 

 have found that when a basket will sell for 75 cents the same grade 

 of fruit will sell at from $1.50 to $1.75 in the Georgia carrier. 



The Climax basket. Fig. 3, is another package used for peaches, 

 and probably more in Ontario, Canada, than elsewhere. This pack- 

 age is easily opened and is not very satisfactory as a shipping pack- 

 age. 



Fig. 4 illustrates the so-called bushel basket package. We have 

 used it somewhat experimentally but it does not serve the purpose 

 as a shipping package for New Jersey conditions. Too large a bulk 



