646 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
August 25, 
is 10 to 13 cents apiece, but some of the fruit unions, 
buying in large quantities, have been able to put them 
up as low as S]/ 2 cents. The better growers select only 
the whitest and finest wood, rejecting all that gives an 
old or soiled appearance, as no man who takes pride in 
his business or cares for his reputation would sell a 
soiled box. 
THE PACKING HOUSE.—A permanent packing 
house is a necessity in these orchards. They are not 
expensively made, but simply to give the proper shelter 
for the material and workers. The most 'useful piece 
of furniture in the packing house is the packing table. 
One that stands free from the wall is much better than 
a shelf or table fastened at one side. The table should 
merely be made to hold the apples themselves, and 
probably the best style in use in the Northwest is the 
one shown at Fig. 270. As will be seen, this is a frame 
stoutly made and provided with a burlap or canvas 
bottom, in which the apples are placed ready for the 
packers. The legs are three feet long, they come up 
inside the frame with a slope, but are sawed off on a 
slope inward, so as to prevent the workers from bruis¬ 
ing the apples. The table should be just high enough 
so that when the package is in position on the support 
the packer’s fingers just touch the lower inside corner 
of the box, as he stands erect before it. A board nailed 
across the end and another running underneath serve 
to support the box at a convenient angle for packing. 
As a rule these box supports are fastened at diagonally 
opposite corners, so that each packer has the table at 
his right hand, yet many packers are left-handed, while 
other packers use either hand, finding it convenient to 
change. The burlap or canvas bottom of the table is 
tacked on loosely, so as to leave quite a little sag in 
the middle. Usually a double thickness of cloth is used, 
the upper piece being tacked at one end only, so that 
litter or dirt may be easily shaken off. The usual plan 
is to box all the apples on the table about once an hour, 
to prevent bruises wearing upon them; otherwise when 
new apples are added some of the old ones might remain 
nearly all day at the bottom. In some cases old hose 
rubber is used for edging the tables, so as to prevent 
even slight bruises. In addition to the packing table a 
nailing press, shown at Fig. 267, is to be found in the 
packing house. There are several types of this press, 
but the one shown is considered best. When the box 
is filled it is placed on the press, and by a pressure of 
the foot clamps, presses the sides of the top down se¬ 
curely to the sides, where they can be safely nailed in, 
thus avoiding breakage or bruising of the fruit. 
PROFESSIONAL PACKERS.—Prof. Judson says 
that it is too hard for a man to see wormholes in his 
own apples, consequently packing is done among men of 
the union by experts, who go from place to place and do 
nothing else. He says that no fruit union can afford 
to let members do their own packing. Some one must 
be employed to do it strictly as a matter of business, 
and whose reputation is at stake. He says that even 
those who don’t belong to the unions in the Northwest 
should train a group of expert packers, and employ the 
same ones year after year.. At Hood River a number 
of experts are constantly employed, doing nothing but 
pack. When a grower has picked enough apples, so 
that he can commence operations, he notifies the officers, 
and as soon as possible packers are sent to his sheds. 
As a rule, these packers work in crews of four, each 
crew headed by a foreman. Four packers generally 
make the best gang, as they fill the table, which is about 
all the ordinary packing table can accommodate. So 
careful is the work that the one foreman is expected 
to attend to the four packers and do nothing else. This 
foreman does no packing, but simply sees that every 
box is properly packed, teaching and helping the pack¬ 
ers as they need it. He sees that the packers are all 
supplied with boxes, papers and fruit. When a box 
is filled he promptly removes it and stamps on the end 
of each box the number and the name of the apples 
which it contains, and his own individual stamp. In 
this way the guarantee is made up, for everyone who 
buys a box of the apples will know just how much fruit 
there is in it, the size, and the name of the packer, who 
can be held responsible for any poor packing. The price 
is five cents a box for grades larger than what is known 
as the five-tier. For the latter and the smaller grades 
six cents a box is paid. Under this scale of prices the 
apples must be placed on the table clean and properly 
wiped, and practically free from small fruit and culls. 
It has been found profitable to wipe the fruit, because 
in that section where fruit is sprayed so frequently, it 
often happens that a part of the lime or Bordeaux 
Mixture remains on the apples. In some cases it is 
thought that wiping is hardly necessary, yet as a general 
proposition it is called a good plan to wipe at least all 
the red apples, if only to remove the dust. A pair of 
cheap cotton gloves is used for the wiping, these being 
considered better than a cloth or rag. The wiping and 
grading are all done at one operation. If more than 
eight boxes in 100 are culled out by the packers an ex¬ 
tra charge is made. It is economy to leave out all the 
seconds and culls. Prof. Judson makes the following 
estimate: Suppose a man finds he has apples enough 
to box 100 boxes if he is easy on the culling but the 
rigid grading will give him only 80, it seems like a waste 
of 20 boxes to choose the latter course, yet the figures 
would show something like the following: 
CULLED TO 80 BOXES. 
RECEIPTS. 
80 boxes apples at $1.00.$80.00 
20 boxes seconds and culls at 30c. 6.00 
-$S6.00 
DISBURSEMENTS. 
80 box shoqks at 10c.$ 8.00 
Making SO boxes at l%c. 1.20 
Backing 80 boxes apples at 5c. 4.00 
Freight on 80 boxes at 30c. 24.00 
-$37.20 
Net profit .$48.80 
CULLED TO 100 BOXES. 
RECEIPTS. 
100 boxes apples at 75c.$75.00 
■ -$75.00 
DISBURSEMENTS. 
100 box shooks at 10c.$10.00 
Making 100 boxes at l%c. 1.50 
Packing 100 boxes apples at 5c. 5.00 
Freight on 100 boxes at 30c... 30.00 
■ -$46.50 
Net profit.$28.50 
Net profit.$28.50 
PAYING THE PACKERS.—While the packers are 
paid by the piece, it would seem as if paying by the 
APPLE BOX SHOWING BULGE. Fig. 269. 
day would produce a better pack, but it would be diffi¬ 
cult to arrange a just rule of price under that system. 
Some growers would lose money by this daily payment, 
as they are not ready when the packers come. This 
objection proved so serious at Hood River that paying 
by the day was given up, although in some orchards it 
was found to be an economical way. One thing seems 
sure, not everyone can pack fruit properly. The man 
must be trained to the business and lie seldom be¬ 
comes a rea expert until the second or third season. 
Not everyone with several years’ experience will make 
a first-class fruit packer, because it requires a naturally 
quick person with an accurate eye for size. A beginner 
would probably not earn more than half wages! the first 
season. 
A WOMAN ON FARM LABOR . 
Never was a truer statement printed than that in 
your issue of August 4, and signed G. N. E., a farmer’s 
daughter. It is no fancy sketch, but true to the letter. 
I have been forced to sell a profitable farm for no 
other reason than my inability to hire good help. I 
have paid from $10 to $65 per month, and it is the 
same story. I give a good room, good variety of food, 
well cooked and well served; provide a daily paper, 
and treat my help as kindly as possible, but I am not 
powerful enough to fight the liquor habit. Then there 
is one other factor that stands between the farmer 
and his inability to secure help, and that is the numer¬ 
ous charity organizations. Just as long as they will 
feed and clothe idle, lazy men just so long will the 
farmer be at the mercy of his hired help. There is no 
laboring man, if he respects himself, is cleanly in his 
habits, both of person and speech, and takes an in¬ 
terest in his work, but what will find a warm welcome 
and kind treatment in the farmer’s family. In this 
matter of farm labor, that is almost at a crisis, a 
reform must be brought about. Here are thousands 
of men and women pouring into this country daily, 
to become consumers of the wealth of the land, but 
do they become producers as well? I am brought 
into contact with many farmer’s families, and every¬ 
thing indicates to me that the help on the farm must 
resolve itself to becoming day labor, eight, nine, or 
ten hours per day for so much money. I am not sure 
but the farmer will be the gainer, as rainy days and 
the time between crops there will be no hired man to 
provide for. To refer back to my point of charity 
being a curse to the labor of the country instead of a 
benefit, the truest of charity was that given out by 
Russell Sage: “Help men to help themselves.” If the 
charity organizations would only establish training 
schools, and say to the idle and lazy, “Here learn to 
work, and then work or starve,” we would soon find 
a very different condition of affairs. 
Connecticut. emma erskine hahn. 
HARVESTING ONION SETS . 
Would you give me some information on the harvesting 
of onion sets, whether it is necessary for the tops to dry 
down completely before they can be taken up? l. c. h. 
Manitowoc, Wis. 
Onion sets are harvested when the tops begin to die 
down. They are either raked together in windrows, 
or lifted out with a set of attachments that are usually 
furnished with a Planet Junior wheel hoe. They are 
left on the ground two or three days to cure, and 
then taken under shelter and spread out on a dry floor. 
In this condition they should be watched, and-if nec¬ 
essary should be moved every two or three days to 
prevent heating. When thoroughly dry they can be 
cleaned at leisure; remove the top and the few re¬ 
maining roots. The adhering soil and sand is dis¬ 
posed of by running them through a fanning mill. 
Determining the size of the bulbs to be used for sets 
is best accomplished by the use of a grain sieve; all 
bulbs that will not pass through a three-quarter-inch 
mesh are too large for sets, and should be sold in 
the Fall or used for pickling onions. To keep them 
through Winter they should be stored in a cool dry 
place. Some growers prefer to mix the bulbs with 
chaff and allow them to freeze, and then cover with 
hay or straw and not remove it until Spring. This, 
however, is risky, unless one is accustomed to this 
method of storing. I have always had excellent suc¬ 
cess by storing in shallow open crates, and protecting 
them in extremely cold weather by covering them 
with old carpet or blankets. Remove these in mod¬ 
erate warm spells and ventilate the room thoroughly. 
A cool dry air circulating through the bulbs dries 
out the moisture and prevents sprouting. 
_ T. M. WHITE. 
RIGS FOR HAULING BARRELED APPLES. 
The accompanying diagrams show three different 
rigs used by the apple growers in this vicinity for 
hauling barreled apples. The first is very convenient 
for use with low-wheeled wagons. It is made long 
enough for seven barrels to stand side by side, and 
wide enough for three barrels, making 21 barrels to 
the load. This rack will also be found very convenient 
for hauling apples, potatoes or other products in bushel 
crates, and may be used for a rack to haul hay, grain 
or silage corn. A strip of 1 x 2-inch stuff is nailed 
around the outside of platform to hold the barrels or 
crates from sliding off. If desired, when hauling bar¬ 
rels, stakes may be placed at points shown by dots and 
a small rope lashed about the load. The second is a 
cheap and convenient frame for hauling barrels only, 
and is made of poles bolted to strong cross-pieces; the 
barrels are placed on it horizontally end to end in two 
rows. It is made long enough for seven barrels in 
each row, and a third row of six barrels is placed 
on top between the two bottom rows, mak¬ 
ing its capacity 20 barrels. The poles in this 
rack should be of some strong timber, about 
six inches in diameter for the two outside ones, 
and the center one may be smaller, and should be higher 
by four or five inches than the outsides ones. The 
exact height may be determined by placing two barrels 
side by side after the outside poles are in position. If 
the large poles taper much it will be well to shave them 
out some on the inside at the large ends to fit the 
barrels where they are to rest. The third rack is made 
of heavy planks. The bed is made long enough to 
accommodate 16 or 18 barrels, and the projections on 
the sides are made for three barrels each. The barrels 
are held in place with stakes and rope. 
J. 0. WADSWORTH. 
