Handling

The old custom of picking and laying on the ground in the

orchard is a poor one and should not be followed, as it causes

unnecessary handling and bruising. Moreover, fruit should be packed

and hauled to storage as soon after picking as possible. Picking and

placing directly on the packing table from which the apples are

immediately packed is the best plan where it is practicable, but as

the weather at picking time in the Eastern States is frequently quite

uncertain, it is not always possible to follow this plan as closely as

can be done in the West, where dry air and sunshine prevail. Still,

wherever there is a considerable quantity of fruit and several

pickers, the plan of packing directly from the table is best. Many

growers pick in boxes and barrels and haul the apples to a packing

shed to be packed later. Convenience and expediency must govern the

general farmer who is not always at liberty to choose the best plan,

often having to do as he can.



PACKING TABLES enable the grower to pack his fruit better because he

can see better what he is doing, and to handle the fruit more cheaply

and quickly and with less injury. They should be portable so that they

can be moved about the orchard. A convenient type has one end mounted

on wheels so that it can be pushed from one place to another. The top

of the table should be made of two strong layers of canvas, one tacked

firmly to the framework of the table with about three or four inches

of dip and the other laid loosely over it. This plan provides a soft

resting place for the fruit and the table can be easily cleaned off by

simply throwing back the upper layer of canvas.



Three feet six inches is about the right width for the table, and the

same sloping to three feet four inches at one end, is the correct

height from the ground. Most packers like to have this gradual slope

to one end so that the apples will naturally feed toward that end. The

length may be anything up to eight or ten feet, beyond which the table

becomes heavy and unmanageable.



BARRELS.--The standard apple barrel adopted by the National Apple

Shippers' Association and made law in New York State has a length of

stave of twenty-eight and one-half inches and a diameter of head of

seventeen and one-eighth inches. The outside circumference of the

bilge is sixty-four inches and the distance between the heads is

twenty-six inches. It contains one hundred quarts dry measure. The

staves are mostly made of elm, pine, and red gum, and the heads

principally of pine with some beech and maple. In most apple growing

sections barrels are made in regular cooper shops where their

manufacture is a business by itself. Only the largest growers set up

their own barrels. Practically all barrels are purchased "knocked

down" and it costs from four to six cents each to set them up. Barrels

can ordinarily be purchased for about thirty-five cents each, but the

cost varies somewhat with the season and the region.



Apple packages should always present a neat, clean, and attractive

appearance. Never use flour barrels, soiled or ununiform barrels of

any kind. If a head cushion is used a good deal of waste from the

crushing and bruising of the fruit will be saved. A head lining of

plain or fringed paper also adds much to the attractiveness of the

package. The wrapping of apples for barrel packing is hardly

advisable. The fruit is pressed into the barrel tightly with one of

two types of presses, both of which are good.



The lever press is more responsive and the pressure is more easily

changed, but it is harder to operate. The screw press distributes the

pressure more evenly with less injury to the fruit and is more

powerful.



The steps in properly packing a barrel of apples are: First, see that

the middle and closed end hoops are tight, if necessary, nailing them

and clinching the nails; second, mark the head plainly with the grade

and variety and the name of the packer or owner; then place the barrel

on a solid floor or plank and lay in the facing papers (the face end

being packed first); select the "facers," which should be the best

representatives of the grade being packed, and _no others_, and place

them in two courses in regular order stems down; with a drop handle

basket fill the barrel, using care not to bruise the fruit, and

jarring the barrel back and forth on the plank as each basket is put

into it in order to settle the fruit firmly in place; lastly, arrange

a layer of apples stems up and apply the press, using a hatchet to get

the head in place and to drive on and tighten the hoops.



THE BOX PACKAGE is rapidly growing in favor, especially as a carrier

of fancy fruit. There is no standard box the size of which is fixed by

law unless it be a box labeled a bushel. But two sizes of boxes are in

common use, both probably being necessary on account of the variation

in the size of different varieties. The "Standard" box is 101/2 by 111/2

by 18 inches inside measurement and contains 2,173.5 cubic inches (the

lawful stricken bushel is 2,150.4 cubic inches). The "Special" box is

10 by 11 by 20 inches inside measurement and contains 2,200 cubic

inches. The bulge when properly made will add about 150 cubic inches

more, making the two boxes hold 2,323.5 cubic inches and 2,350 cubic

inches respectively.



Spruce is the most reliable and in general the best material. Fir is

sometimes used, but is likely to split. Pine is good if strong enough.

The ends should be of three-quarter-inch material; the sides of

three-eighth-inch, and the tops and bottoms--two pieces each--of

one-quarter-inch material. There should also be two cleats each for

top and bottom. The sides of the box should be nailed with four,

preferably five-penny cement-coated nails, at each end. The cleats

should be put neatly on each end and four nails put into them, going

through into the top and bottom. Boxes commonly come "knocked down" or

in the flat and are usually put together by the grower. They cost from

ten to thirteen cents each in the flat.



There are several kinds of packs, depending on the size of the apples

and the choice of the grower. The diagonal pack with each apple

resting over the spaces between others is preferable, but on account

of the size of the apples one is often forced to use the straight pack

with the apples in regular right angle rows for some sizes. The offset

pack, first three (or four) on one side and then on the other, is

very much like the diagonal, but not much used on account of its

accommodating too few apples in a box. The following table gives the

packs, number of rows, number of apples in the row, box to use, and

number of apples used to the box, as used at Hood River, Oregon:



No.

Size expressed apples No.

in No. apples in layers in Box

per box Tier Pack row depth used

--------------------------------------------------------------------

45 3 3 St. 5-5 3 Standard

54 3 3 St. 6-6 3 Special

63 3 3 St. 7-7 3 Special

64 31/2 2-2 Diag. 4-4 4 Standard

72 31/2 2-2 Diag. 4-5 4 Standard

80 31/2 2-2 Diag. 5-5 4 Standard

88 31/2 2-2 Diag. 5-6 4 Standard

96 31/2 2-2 Diag. 6-6 4 Special

104 31/2 2-2 Diag. 6-7 4 Special

112 31/2 2-2 Diag. 7-7 4 Special

120 31/2 2-2 Diag. 7-8 4 Special

128 4 4 St. 8-8 4 Special

144 4 4 St. 9-9 4 Special

150 41/2 3-2 Diag. 6-6 5 Standard

163 41/2 3-2 Diag. 6-7 5 Standard

175 41/2 3-2 Diag. 7-7 5 Standard

185 41/4 3-2 Diag. 7-8 5 Special

200 41/2 3-2 Diag. 8-8 5 Special



It is good practice to wrap apples packed in boxes. For this purpose a

heavy-weight tissue paper in two sizes, 8 by 10 and 10 by 10,

according to the size of the apple, is used. A lining paper 18 by 24

in size and "white news" in grade is first placed in the box. Between

the layers of apples a colored "tagboard" paper, size 171/4 by 11 or 20

by 93/4, according to the box used, is laid so as to make the layers

come out right at the top. In packing the box is inclined toward the

packer for convenience in placing the fruit. After laying in the

lining paper each apple is wrapped and put in place. As an aid to

picking up the thin wrapping paper a rubber "finger" is used on the

forefinger. When the box is packed the layers should stand a quarter

to a half inch higher in the middle than at the ends, in order to give

a bulge or spring to the top and bottom which holds the fruit firmly

in place without bruising.



There has been much discussion as to whether the box or the barrel is

the better package for apples. This is needless, for as a matter of

fact each is best for its own particular purpose. The barrel is best

adapted as a package for large commercial quantities of fruit and

where labor could not be had to pack apples in boxes even if the trade

wanted them. The barrel permits the packing of a greater variety in

size and shape than does the box, and these can be more easily and

cheaply handled in packing.



On the other hand, the box is the ideal package for small amounts of

fancy fruit, to be used for a family-or fruit-stand trade. It presents

a neater and more fancy appearance and is a more convenient package to

handle, as well as one which is more open to inspection. It already

has a better reputation as a quality container than the barrel. As a

fancy package for a limited private trade from the small general farm

orchard with high-class varieties like the Northern Spy, McIntosh, and

others there is no comparison of the box with the barrel.