JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 41 
instances the fruit has to be packed, not as the gardener would 
like, but as a certain set of boxes necessitate, these, perhaps, 
having been made at the instance of a predecessor ; while in 
many cases the best has to be made of any boxes and packing 
material forthcoming. The latter happens, I should imagine, 
more often when packing fruit is only a casual occurrence. Pro¬ 
bably the most expensive, and comparatively the least satisfactory, 
is the employment of tin boxes and trays. These are heavy, 
liable to rust, and, unless made very strong or with divisions, are 
more easily damaged than are ordinary deal boxes. Divisions 
for any kind of fruit, including Peaches, Nectarines, Plums, 
Apricots, Figs, Cherries, Strawberries, Gooseberries, and Rasp¬ 
berries, I thoroughly dislike, yet where tin is employed, and also 
often in the case of deal boxes, we find divisions the rule. Here 
we have a heap of such trays, these being made to fit into deep 
strong tin travelling boxes. Those for Peaches allow every fruit 
a space nearly 4 inches square and 4 inches in depth. As these 
divisions are much too large for any but the very largest varieties, 
they require a lot of packing material, and this so arranged to 
admit the fruit being drawn out by it, or they must be bruised. 
Besides, these heavy boxes with their comparatively few contents 
are heavily charged for by the railway companies. 
I prefer lightly made deal boxes, and if these have tin corner 
plates, and the lids are lightly screwed down or tied instead of 
nailing, and thereby spoiling the lids, they will last several years. 
.In a box 12 inches long, 9 inches wide, and 4 inches deep, we can, 
as a rule, properly pack twelve fruits. For Nectarines—these also 
answering for Apricots, Plums, and the smaller Figs—we have 
boxes of the same length and width, and 3 inches deep. At one 
time we lined the bottoms with cotton wool, then pulled some of 
the material into lengths about 12 inches by 6 inches, giving these 
a single fold lengthways, with the “ skin ” outward. Each fruit 
was placed in a half-grown Vine leaf, the base of the fruit near 
the base of the leaf ; the cotton wool was wound tightly round the 
fruit, which was packed in the corner, others being closely added. 
In this manner the boxes were filled, one fruit assisting to fix 
others. More leaves were laid over the fruit, then a folded strip 
of cotton wool of the same size as the box, and on this the lid was 
tightly screwed. Thus packed the fruit may be roughly shaken 
and receive no harm. The Vine leaves being soft do not bruise, 
but serve to keep the fruit fresh, and besides contribute to the 
pleasing appearance of the fruit when uncovered—an advantage 
where the employer or recipient request to see it before it is 
unpacked, or, again, when sent to a market salesman. Vines on 
the open walls supply our principal wants in that respect. 
Where, however, suitable moss is available this will be found 
the most economical. We collect it from walls and old tree 
stumps, and after slightly drying it beat out the dust and sift it 
to still further cleanse it. When packing, the boxes are lightly 
filled with the moss ; the Peaches, Nectarines, Apricots, or Plums, 
as the case may be, are placed in a leaf, then wrapped in a piece 
of tissue paper and firmly bedded in and surrounded by the mos3. 
The boxes hold the same quantity as in the preceding method, 
and the fruit is firmly but not roughly covered with moss, on 
which the lids fit tightly. Our Strawberry boxes are 12 inches 
long, 9 inches wide, and 2 inches deep, outside measurement, this 
including the lid as in other instances, and a single layer only is 
packed in each. Either a layer of moss or cotton wool is em¬ 
ployed for the bottom, placing on the former a piece of tissue 
paper ; and the Strawberries, each placed in a portion of a Straw¬ 
berry leaf previously flagged and therefore softened, are packed 
flatly and closely together. On these tissue paper, more of the 
packing material, is placed in quantity sufficient to cause the lid 
to fit closely. The same boxes are available for Cherries, Goose¬ 
berries, and Raspberries ; these, if very ripe or choice, going in 
single layers, but, if they will travel well, in double layers. Rasp¬ 
berries are usually packed separately in small softened leaves, 
but the Cherries and Gooseberries seldom require this. Figs are 
wrapped in tissue paper, then in cotton wool, and laid closely in a 
single layer in shallow boxes. These are bad travellers, and 
should be pulled before becoming dead ripe. It is also very 
important in each of the preceding cases that the fruit be picked 
before becoming full ripe, and they must also be sound if expected 
to travel well ; this rule to be particularly observed when sending 
fruit to the markets. 
It is a curious fact we invariably have the moss returned to us, 
but what becomes of much of the cotton wool gardeners are con¬ 
stantly sending to their employers’ houses ? I never yet saw it 
properly returned, and frequent outlay is consequently necessary. 
Unfortunately moss is not always available, neither is the best 
quality of paper shavings. The latter are particularly good for 
packing Melons, Pine Apples, and even Grapes. These shavings 
may sometimes be had of the printers, but as a rule they are sent 
away to be worked up afresh. This, again, does not return as it 
should do, and I am now using moss for the Melons, these being 
first wrapped in paper and then firmly bedded in it with the 
stalks upwards, in order they may be preserved, a Melon in my 
estimation being incomplete without a footstalk. Pine Apples 
are not grown here. They are usually wrapped in paper, taking 
especial care of the crown, as this if bruised resembles imported 
fruit, while the fruit is well surrounded with cotton wool. In 
both instances they should be prevented from rolling about, as 
they will easily be damaged and also injure other occupants of 
the box. 
It will be seen the practice I recommend with the Peaches and 
other small fruits is much the same as that for some time adopted 
by Mr. Coleman of Eastnor Castle, and which contributed to 
his success in the recent competition for special prizes offered 
for the best methods of packing fruit for long distances. It is 
only fair to state it was owing to his writings on the subject of 
fruit-packing that induced me to give moss a trial as a substitute 
for cotton wool. With regard to Grapes, unless they were for the 
market, I should not pack as he does, simply because the quan¬ 
tities to be sent are smaller. A basket or box for market Grapes 
in general use measures 18 inches in length, 12 inches wide, and 
9 or 10 inches deep. The bottoms of these are covered and the 
sides lined with cotton wool, paper shavings, or—as practised by 
Mr. Coleman, and, if I remember rightly, a previous winner, Mr. 
Crump, late of Blenheim—with moss and tissue paper. The 
baskets are disposed in a sloping direction, and the bunches 
packed point downwards as closely as they can be worked in 
together. Nothing is placed between them, but a sheet of paper 
is placed over the whole, and the lid closing tightly on the stems 
effectually prevents oscillation and consequent injury from ex¬ 
cessive friction. What I believe to be the next good method is to 
wrap each bunch in rather stout and very smooth white paper, 
and this is especially recommended when a few bunches only are 
packed in a box not made especially for Grapes. For a moderate- 
sized bunch I form a bag out of a piece of paper 18 inches by 
12 inches by placing this lengthways on the bench, then taking 
hold of the middle of front edge with the thumb and forefinger, 
and the nearest right-hand corner with the left hand, bringing 
this over to the inside of the farthest left-hand corner, and finish 
off by twisting the point formed by the paper in the right hand. 
In shape it is similar to the old-fashioned sugar bags, and in this 
is disposed the bunch. They are packed in a sloping position on 
and surrounded by either moss, cotton wool, or paper shavings, 
and when unpacked do not appear so much rubbed as might be 
anticipated. By having all the boxes made of the same length 
and width they are easily tied together and dispatched, or, better 
still, may be packed evenly in the vegetable or other hampers 
being forwarded.—W. Iggulden. 
THE PRODUCTION AND LOSS OF NITRATES IN 
THE SOIL. 
MB. WABINGTON’S LECTTJKE. 
(Continued from page. 475 , last voluvie.) 
Speaking of the influence of a crop on nitrification, it was two¬ 
fold. First of all, they could not grow any crop on the land without 
diminishing the amount of drainage. The amount of evaporation 
from a field under crop is very much greater than from a field under 
fallow, and therefore the soil necessarily suffered less from drainage. 
The other effect was that the crop was eager to obtain nitrates, and 
therefore the nitrates were taken up by the roots and turned into 
insoluble organic matter. He would lay before them results of some 
determinations of the amount of nitrates present in cropped and 
fallow land. In 1878 they had at Rothamsted a field half in fallow 
and half in Beans. After the removal of the crop of Beans samples 
were taken from that land and also from the land under bare fallow. 
The first 18 inches of the soil that had been bare fallow contained 
36 tbs. of nitrogen per acre, and that from which the Beans had been 
taken only contained 10‘5 lbs. per acre. At the same time a similar 
experiment was tried with land under fallow and land under heat. 
The land under fallow yielded 337 tbs. of nitrogen per acre, and 
that on which Wheat had been grown only 2'6 tbs. per acre. I hat was 
a striking instance of the extremely perfect manner in which the 
removal of the nitrates from the soil was carried out by the Wheat 
crop. The drainage water from several plots of the experimental 
Wheat field contained in the summer time no nitric acid at all, as it 
was taken up so completely by the Wheat crop. 
They had now arrived at three cardinal points as regarded nitrates 
—1, they were being continually produced ; 2, they were very easily 
lost; and 3, that that loss can be prevented by a crop. This subject 
became one of very great agricultural importance when they saw 
the considerable money value of nitrates. Taking the present price 
of nitrates in the market, the loss by drainage of 44 tbs. of nitrates 
per acre represented a loss of 37s. per acre per annum. That was a 
