Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1912-11-21
Packing Apples.

TCSSstS EpffSSs
Unfortunately there is no prescribed
standard for the size of barrel. Sew
eral states have adopted standards,
hut these vary in shape and size. A
barrel used In several states and
sometimes called our Standard Apple
Barrel is of the following dimension:
Length Of stave, 2S1a inches; diam
eter of head 171s inches; outside cir
conference at the bulge, 81 inches;
capacity, 100 quarts, dry measure.
There Is a decided need for federal
legislation giving US uniform bar
rel.
Packing Table.
The table shown In Figure l is well
rdapted for use either in the orchard
or packing house The table In the
illustrations is feet long by 4 feet
vide, sides inches high, Stats in the
bottom CT the bed are inch square,
and are spaced / inch apart The legs
at the lower end are SO inches long,
allowing the bottom of the bed to
clear the top of the barrel. The legs
at the upper end are AZ inches, giving
6inch pitch to the table. The apples
s1can easily be inspected as they roll
into the apron and imperfect thrown
out. When the apron is filled 1t can
be slowly lowered into the barrel with
out bruising the fruit. This packing
table may be mounted on wheels for
convenience in orchard work or may
be built larger, with two tunnels. al
lowing two barrels to be filled at once.
Facing the Barrel.
To face barrel properly requires
some skill and care in selecting fruit.
The object of facing is to give the bar
rel an attractive appearance when
opened, and not, as is too often the
case, to deceive the purchaser. The
fruit used should represent, as far as
size Is concerned, the general run of
the whole barrel The mistake Is too
often made of picking .sout all the
largest apples for facers. These are
frequently poorly colored and do not
makes as good an appearance as the
medium sized, better colored speci-
mems. All the face apples should be
OF uniform size and well colored Be-
ginning on. the outer edge, they should
be arranged, stem down, in concentric
circles, until the head is covered
Care should be taken to select fruit
that will just fill up the circles with
out leaving any spaces or requiring
any to be placed on edge. When the
center is reached, 1t should be filed
with either one, three or four apples
(Figure 2.) Never use large or small
apple to fill out center space, as 1t
would spoil the appearance of the
whole face. By selecting apples meas
uring three to three and one-eighth
inches in diameter the outer circle may
be filled with fifteen apples, the second
ring by nine, and three will fill the
center (Figure 81 The next smaller
size that can be used measures two
and three-quarters to two and seven
eighths inches in diameter. 1t will
take seventeen Of these to fill the outer
circle, eleven to fill the second, and
four to fill the center. A size Of fruit
intermediate between these two could
uOt De- uSeu. Mduy growers lace Ill
their barrels with these two sizes.
In case the fruit runs smaller than
either of these two sizes, one must
select that size which will make three
circles and leave the center to be fill
ed with one apple. In the case OF very
large apples, like Fallawater, they may
be arranged in two circles, with space
in the center, to be filled with one
apple. Only one layer of facers is
necessary, but one should place over
the inter spaces of this layer few
fruits with their colored side down.
When the barrel is opened solid mass
Of color should greet the eye.
Filling and failing the Barrel.
The filling of the barrel should be
accompanied by vigorous shaking after
every half bushel Of fruit has been
added. This settles the fruit into It's
permanent place. so that there will be
no loosening and rafting after the
barrel is packed. When the barrel is
nearly filled the upper layer must be
arranged by hand to form a level SUR