The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1901-04-18
HANDY FRUIT LADDERS.

Many farmers have too few fruit
ladders, and what they do have are
often too heavy and hard to handle.
A ladder to be used by carpenters or
masons for carrying heavy loads to the
top of buildings can hardly be too
strong There are generally men
enough at hand to raise or move them
as occasion requires. which is not very
often, but in gathering fruit one needs
ladder that can be handled easily as
one passes around a tree or goes from
one tree to another.
l have had good, strong ladders, that
were not very heavy, made from white
pine trees that grew and died in thick
groves Of pines. There will be 10 pitch
in such wood. If live tree can be
found of the desired size, and is cut
around at the butt TO kill it, and then
left to stand till it dies and is sea-
soned, it will be comparatively light
and very strong. After trimming off
what small limbs there are, and shay
ing off the bark and as much of the
sap wood as necessary to bring it to
the right size, the holes should be
bored, after which the tree should be
split with a good splitting saw. White
oak or red oak makes good rounds if
split from sound, straight grained tim
Der. Such ladder should be safe for
carrying punches Of shingles to the
roof of a building. But for fruit lad
ders l prefer something lighter. l
have made several very satisfactory
ones from straight grain spruce boards
that were but little more than an inch
in thickness. In piles of one by six
inch fencing stuff, as found in lumber
yards, one can often find strips from
the outside of the logs that are not
only nearly free from knots, but are
from an eighth to quarter of an inch
over thick These will make excellent
pieces for fruit ladders. | have three
such, ranging from ten to nineteen
feet in length. The longest one l can
easily raise on end, and it is perfectly
safe to mount to the top when properly
placed against a tree. The boards are
oDliL W I'LL q % w Oll q dltbs5 Ollell liutr
so that when one side is reversed, end
for end, l have two pieces each three
and one-half at one end by two and
one-half at the other. After planning
the sides and taking a shaving off
from the corners and sandpapering to
remove all slivers, the holes should be
bored with a good extension lip bit
Inch holes are none too large for the
lower end, but those near the top
should be seven-eighths or even three
quarters for the last two or three. My
rounds have all been made from the
butt of a butternut tree, and they are
strong enough and much lighter than
oak.
In working out the rounds I would
have them larger in the middle than
at the ends. The rounds should fit
snugly in the holes at both ends, so
that when the ladder is finished it will
be almost like one solid piece. l al
ways split the ends Of the rounds af
ter they are all in place and sawed off
smooth, and then drive in hard wood
wedges. This makes the ladder feel
very firm and stiff. 1t should not be
necessary to say that the wedges must
be so set as not to strain the wood
lengthwise of the grain. The bottom
rounds should be the longest and grow
shorter to the top. Made in this way,
il will stand more firmly when in use
and be easier to place on end. To
make it still more secure, the end
rounds and several between should be
well pinned with hard wood pins
driven into small holes bored with a
bit. Such ladders, if kept painted and
housed when not in use. should last
one lifetime.-A. w. Cheever, in New
York Tribune.