1877.] 
AMERICAN AG-RIOtTI/TTJRIST. 
303 
for the “ worm,” which was not slow to take ad¬ 
vantage of it. So far as these plants went, the 
paper guard was a perfect preventive. Sometimes 
Cabbages Suffer Severely 
from cut-worms, and I have known them, at the 
West, to be protected, not by the use of paper, but 
a maple-leaf was used in the same way; there is 
no special virtue in the maple, but it was of the 
most suitable shape of any leaf at hand. The name 
cut-worm is rather loosely used, it being some¬ 
times applied to the wire-worms, and not rarely to 
the white grub, the larva of the May-beetle, which 
is as destructive below ground as the proper cut¬ 
worms are upon the surface. (See page 299.) 
Peach Harvest—Picking and Packing. 
While in some localities the dropping of the 
partly grown fruit has diminished the crop, this has 
not been general, and the prospect on the whole is 
that the harvest, in the Atlantic districts, will be a 
most abundant one. There is no crop that requires 
so much care in preparing for market as this ; the 
returns, in ordinary seasons, depend upon the con¬ 
dition in which the fruit reaches the dealer, and in 
years of plenty, when the market is full, the con¬ 
dition of the fruit is of still more importance, and 
it becomes the grower to take every possible pre¬ 
caution that the fruit shall reach its destination in 
the proper condition. Experienced peach growers 
need not be told these things, but there will be 
many who this season send their first crop to 
market, and a few hints may be of use to them. 
We saw not long ago a picture representing the 
peach harvest on an estate in Georgia, which was 
useful in showing what not to do. A number of 
stalwart negroes were up iu the trees picking the 
fruit. If one cares for the future of his orchard 
nothing like this will be permitted; the limbs al¬ 
ready burdened with more than they should carry, 
are very easily broken, while hob-nailed shoes will 
make bad wounds on the bark, and cause gumming. 
Ladders. 
The owner should provide an abundance of lad¬ 
ders for his pickers; they are usually made like an 
ordinary step-ladder, and very strong, usually about 
10 ft. high, and with a board at the top to serve as 
a shelf on which to rest the basket; to keep it 
steady, the ladder is broader at the bottom than at 
the top. That at the right hand of the engraving 
—which is borrowed from Fulton’s excellent 
“ Peach Culturist ’’—shows the usual form. These, 
and everything else required for the harvest, should 
have been prepared well in advance, but if one has 
not provided ladders enough he can knock together 
some that will serve, from ordinary materials. The 
ladder shown at the left hand is one of this kind ; 
to make it requires four pieces of shingling lath ; 
to two of these pieces, strips of the same material 
arc nailed in pairs opposite each other, to serve as 
steps. The other pair of long strips are to serve as 
a support to the ladder, and are furnished with 
'cross-pieces to strengthen them ; a connecting rod, 
with a head at one end and screw with nut at the 
other, can be made by any blacksmith, and is the 
only part of the ladder that can not be made on the 
place. The engraving shows the manner of build¬ 
ing it, including the top-board. Much fruit may 
be picked by standing on the ground, or by the aid 
of a box, and with a ladder and the aid of a crook¬ 
ed stick every part of the tree may be reached. 
Pickers and Picking. 
Picking requires pickers, and here is one of the 
grower’s difficulties ; he can hire hands, but not al¬ 
ways brains, and to pick properly requires judg¬ 
ment and thought. Tramps and “ bummers ” from 
the cities make their way into the peach districts 
at harvest time, and the grower is often obliged to 
take up with a very rough lot; he is fortunate who 
can command the services of experienced pickers 
who should be engaged well beforehand. The con¬ 
dition of the peach when it is in a proper state to 
pick, can only be learned by practice. It must be 
mature, else it will never come into eating con¬ 
dition, but it must not he over-ripe. A peach that 
is fully ripe and in eating condition, is too far gone 
to send to market, and a single peach of this kind 
in a basket will become bruised and crushed and 
spoil the looks of the whole. Where skilled pick¬ 
ers can be had, it is customary to pick directly into 
the baskets which are sent off without overhauling. 
Assorting 4lie Fruit. 
But it is safer to have the fruit culled by per¬ 
sons more skilled than the pickers. Temporary 
tables, of sufficient size, are put up in a shady 
place, or in large orchards there is a packing house 
for the purpose, and the baskets as they are brought 
in from the pickers are turned out upon the tables. 
Here the cullers re-pack, handling every peach; 
two, and sometimes three grades are made for mar¬ 
ket, and all that are too small or imperfect, and 
especially all that are over-ripe, are thrown aside. 
The distance from market, or rather the time re¬ 
quired for transportation, has to be taken into 
account in deciding upon the proper condition of 
ripeness in which it will be safe to send the fruit; 
besides some varieties ripen up more rapidly than 
others, points which, with others, require no little 
judgment on the part of the grower. His aim is, 
to so pack the fruit that it will open sound and 
fresh, when it reaches the consignee, and yet not 
so immature that it will not ripen up and become 
mellow when it finally reaches the hands of the 
consumer. Of course the different qualities should 
he marked, firsts, seconds, or thirds; it is the 
custom to “twig” extra fruit, 
by running through the cover of 
the basket a small peach tree 
twig, with the leaves upon it. 
Baskets mxl Crates. 
There has been a great im¬ 
provement in baskets of late 
years, and a neat, clean basket 
helps to sell the contents. The 
standard size is 5 half-pecks, or 
% of a bushel, this size having 
been adopted by the “ Fruit 
Grower’s Association” of the 
peach districts of Delaware and 
Maryland. In some Western lo¬ 
calities a smaller basket is used, 
and in Nov., 1875, we figured a 
neat peck-basket, used by the 
Michigan growers ; this was very 
generally used in New York last year, hut mainly 
by retailers, who transferred the fruit from the 
large baskets, or crates, to these baskets, which 
buyers could easily carry. Crates are coming 
more into use each year, and especially for long 
distances, are preferable to baskets ; fruit can not 
be shown in them so well as in baskets, but they 
preserve the fruit in much better condition. The 
standard crate of the Peninsula, is made of two 
ends and a middle piece, 7i x 14 inches, of i-inch 
stuff; each side of four pieces 21 in. wide, and 231 
in. long; the top and bottom each of one piece 61- 
wide, and 23i inches long ; the side, and top, and 
bottom pieces, are t-inch stuff, and well secured to 
the end and middle pieces by nailing; the spaces 
between the side slats, and at each side of the top 
and bottom, allow of abundant ventilation. Some¬ 
times the top and bottom are also of several slats. 
If the crates are to go a long distance, a lath or 
other strip should be nailed around each end of the 
crates, so that when packed upon each other, there 
will be an air-space between. It is advisable to 
bevel the inside edges of the slats, to avoid bruising 
the fruit. In filling the crates, care should be taken 
that they are so well filled that the fruit can not 
move and get injured; about half fill the crate, 
shake the fruit down, then fill it up with the fruit 
so far above the edge, that it will require some 
pressure to bring the cover down to its place. 
Facing, Topping, or Plating. 
Those who buy small baskets of fruit at some re¬ 
tail stores and stands, know that the dealers well 
understand the art of “topping” the baskets, and 
find that all of the fine fruit is in a layer at the top, 
while the rest is of inferior quality ; indeed, some 
of them are given to “ bottoming ” too, which they 
do by placing an abundance of paper in the bottom. 
“ Topping,” or “ plating,” is now rarely done by 
the growers, as those regularly in the business 
know the value of a reputation for honest packing. 
But deception of this kind is different from “fac¬ 
ing,” which is legitimate, and only makes the arti¬ 
cle look at its best; the fruit being of even quality 
all through, facing is done by regularly placing and 
rounding up the top layer, carefully turning each 
peach so that its “ 6unny side,” or colored cheek, 
will be uppermost—a iirtle matter, but it pays. 
Marking. 
Plain and distinct marking will prevent mistakes, 
and a grower should have stencil plates for this 
purpose. With baskets, the name of the commis 
sion house is marked on the cloth cover, and the 
owner’s name permanently on the side of the bas¬ 
ket ; also mark quality plainly. Though crates are 
never returned, it is important that the grower’s 
name should be on these also, for sake of identifica¬ 
tion. Always notify the consignee well in advance, 
by mail, or by telegraph, of the whole number of 
baskets or crates, and how many of each quality. 
THE H©U§EH©lLEo 
£5?” For other Household Items see “ Basket ” pages. 
A Vegetable Washing Machine. 
In the Oneida Community, a large number of 
people are brought together to form one extensive 
family, and their kitchen operations are consequent¬ 
ly on a correspondingly large scale. Many of the 
minor operations in domestic matters, which, when 
performed in an ordinary family seem to require 
but little time and labor, when multiplied to meet 
the wants of a family as large as that of the Com¬ 
munity, become onerous, and time consuming. 
Washing potatoes and other vegetables preparatory 
to cooking is one of these, and it is one in which, 
where much is to be done, the cook will gladly wel¬ 
come any aid. Among the other labor-saving ma¬ 
chines devised by some inventive member of the 
Community, is a machine for washing potatoes and 
other vegetables, of which we give an engraving 
on the next page from a photograph furnished by 
J. Leonard, of the Community. It consists of a 
slatted cylindrical crate, provided with a crank, and 
so arranged that it may be revolved in water con¬ 
tained in the square tub, or it may be lifted quite 
out of the water by means of the handles of the 
frame in which it is hung, and carried over to dis¬ 
charge its contents into the wooden funnel, seen at 
the side of the tub, from which they fall into a 
basket or whatever may be placed beneath, to re¬ 
ceive them. The potatoes or other vegetables are 
placed in the cylinder through a door not shown in 
the engraving; they are revolved in the water for 
about three minutes, when by a single lift of the 
crate by the handles, they are dumped out perfectly 
clean. Mr. L. states that though the idea was 
original with the inventor, they found out after¬ 
ward that a similar machine had' been in use for 
many years in starch factories. In large families, 
schools, or other institutions where cooking is done 
on a liberal scale, a machine of this kind will be 
found to save a great deal of unpleasant labor. 
LADDERS USED IN PICKING PEACHES. 
