GATHERING AND PROFITABLE UTILISATION OF APPLES AND PEARS. 211 



ful to place your top layer of fruit to look attractive and catch 

 the eye ; a great deal of difference in the appearance of the fruit 

 when the package is opened can be made by the care taken in 

 placing the top layer. 



If your package has an open top, and is of wicker-work, some 

 cross hazel or other pliable sticks protects the fruit, and is much 

 better than string or cord, which works slack. Fruit loosely 

 packed always travels badly. 



A good deal of the American and Canadian fruit is packed so 

 firmly that a foot lever has to be used to press the fruit into the 

 barrels ; and although this sometimes indents the fruit, and is 

 also sometimes from carelessness carried too far, fruit indented 

 by pressure will often keep well, whereas if that indentation had 

 been caused by a blow it would soon decay. A very good system 

 of packing fruit in boxes or barrels is to nail or fasten on what 

 will be the lid or top when the package is to be opened, carefully 

 place the first layer of fruit in the bottom of the package, fill up, 

 and press in firmly, and then nail on the bottom. When the 

 package is ready to be opened, what was the bottom of the 

 package forms the lid, and the top layer of fruit when unpacked 

 is perfectly level and even, in a way which can be attained by no 

 other method. 



As regards pears, ordinary and second class can be marketed 

 much in the same way as ordinary apples, but large and choice 

 fruit requires extra care in packing, and should be packed under 

 than over ripe. Those from the Channel Islands and the 

 Continent are usually sold in boxes of a definite size, which take 

 one dozen large fruits packed in a single layer, one and a half 

 dozen medium, or two dozen smaller fruit, each box being 

 marked with the growers' or packers' brand, and the number of 

 pears it contains. Buyers, therefore, know exactly what they 

 are buying. 



Discussion. 



The Eev. P. Clementi-Smith, F.R.H.S., said he had had 

 some experience in packing, and he received fruit from his friends 

 in Como, Quebec. He rather took exception to forcing apples 

 into barrels. The way they did it in Canada was to loosen the 

 rings of the barrel until it was full, and then tighten the rings. 

 Apples should not have any " play." There was a feeling, how- 

 ever, in Canada that the barrel system was not altogether sue- 



