The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1913-08-15
FARM AND AND AM, ORCHARD
Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations
Washington Specially Pacific Coast Conditions
How to Handle Peaches.

| Oregon Agricultural College Cor
vallis-The Stanfield district of Ore
gon as we'll as several other parts of
the state, is loaded with heavy peach
crop, which many of the growers do
not know how to handle proftably.
Prof. C. l. Lewis, head of the division
of horticulture at the college, gives
the following advice.
"All in all the peach is one of the
poorest established fruit crops in the
Pacific Northwest" " says Prof. Lewis
"With US it is largely case of feast
or famine. During the years of
heavy crops it is often hard for US to
dispose of the crop with profit, while
in California, to the south of us, the
peach industry, many times as large
as ours, is handled very proftably.
They ship only small percentage of
the fruit in the green state, but dry
and can large portion of the crop.
Zone reason why we have not done
better with the peach for many years
is that we have not handled it well.
If peaches are not handled skilfully
they arrive in the market in a very
poor condition, and consequently bring
low prices. There is no fruit upon
which it is harder to give good advice
in handling than the peach. 1t is a
fruit where personal experience is
necessary. The careful handling
should begin at the time the fruit is
taken from the trees.
"It is always desirable to have as
much color on the fruit as possible.
With some varieties that must be
shipped long distances, of course, it is
impossible to let them develop much
color, but for short shipping distances
more color can be allowed to develop
before the fruit is picked. When
shipped the fruit must never be in a
ripe condition.
"The color may or may not be an
index as to the time to pick the peach.
Many rules are given. With the yell
low peach, it is generally picked when
the greens begin to Tighten and traces
of yellow begin to show. The touch
is sometimes used as an indication, the
peach being pressed lightly with the
thumb on the suture side. Care must
be taken, however, not to press too
hard, and the thumb and finger nails
of the packers should be trimmed
down closely. 1t is easy to ruin the
shipping quality of your peaches by
jabbing the finger nail into them or
pressing so hard that they are bruised
and turn brown and black.
"Take great care not to get the
peaches soiled. If dirt gets on the
fuzz it is almost impossible to get it
out. Pick in small receptacles, bas-
kets or small pail - HiAh '-"''"r
Do not handle the peaches more often
than is absolutely necessary. Plan to
pack directly from the picking basket
to the boxes. If picked in too large
receptacles and allowed to stand
around, they will tend to become mel
low and ripen too rapidly. In hauling
them from the orchard to the packing
shed be sure not to get them shaken
up much. If you do not have pack
ing house, use some shed or put up a
tent or sheet so as to shield the fruit
from the sun. Handle the fruit as
rapidly as possible. Do not allow the
peaches to become over-heated If you
can help it. AS soon as packed in
boxes, get them placed in cool loca-
tion. In shipping carload lots, send
under refrigeration. 1t is sometimes
better to pick in the late afternoon
and pack the boxes in the cool Of the
evening. In most parts of the North
west the nights are cool, so that the
fruit would generally be in good condi-
tion in the early morning.
sin your packing shed you should
make room for three boxes. Three
packing boxes, Gull box and basket
which contains the fruit, should be
provided for every packer, as there
will probably be about three grades of
peaches to be packed, and the packing
should be done directly from the pick
ing receptacle. Do not dump out and
pour out the peaches onto tables and
into boxes, for you can't do much of
this without getting them bruised. If
the fruit is damaged certain moulds
and rots will soon start and the entire
box of peaches will be ruined before
they arrive in the market. Gull out
carefully all damaged fruit.
Sin ordering your boxes you will
want to get various sizes, probably,
according to the size of your peaches.
The length and width of the boxes are
all the same, lsh by lii inches, inside
measurement, but the depth varies.
There are seven different peach
boxes used on the Coast. The "a inch,
inch, 81 inch, inch, 5 inch and 81
inch. The reason for this variation in
the depth of the boxes is that they
never pack peaches with more than
two layers and the 81 inch depth is
used for extra large peaches. The
sides, tops and bottoms are generally
made of / inch material, and the ends
of 4 inch material.
"There are various grades used in
packing the peaches. Such terms as
extra fancy fancy choice, ETC.,
are aften used. Unfortunately these