Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1913-07-07
How TO HandIe Peaches.


fuzz it is almost impossible to get it
out. Pick in small receptacles, bas-
kets or small pals lined with bur-
lap. 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 mellow 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 packing house, use
some shed, or put up 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 a cool location.
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 con-
dition in the early morning.
In your packing shed you could
make room for three boxes. Three
packing boxes, Gull box and a bas-
ket 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 picking receptacle. Do not
dump out and pour out the peaches
onto tables and into boxes, for you
can't do much of this without get
ting them bruised. If the fruit is
damaged certain moulds and rots
soon start and the entire box of
peaches will be ruined before they
arrive in the market. Gull out very
carefully all damaged fruit.
In 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, 1914 inches by
IL " inches. inside measurement, but
the depth varies. There are seven
different peach boxes used on the
coast-the 21a inch, 3-inch, 3h-
inch, 4-inch, AZ Inch, 5-inch and
" inch. The reason for this varia-
ton in the depth of the boxes is that
they never pack peaches with more
than two layers and the " Inch
depth is used for extra large peaches
The sides, tops and bottoms are gem
orally made of A-inch material and
the ends of rs inch material.
There are various grades used in
packing the peaches. Such terms as
extra fancy" fancy" choice" etc.,
are often used. Unfortunately these
| terms are misleading to the buyer.
A system of grading that has been
| uoOu III Aolldhu lOl hlCily uOllSNc
is very satisfactory. Their peach
grade known as "a" contains ga to
80 to the box. The third grade,
known as "B" grade, contains 80 to
| 92 peaches to the box. All the fruit
in these grades must be free from
fungi, split pits and worms, and all
are very carefully wrapped in paper.
In many sections of the United
States they pack smaller peaches
than the OPS. Some as small as the
1855 are used, but there is very lit
tie money in such small peaches and
one had better not try to ship them
to the open market. There will be
more money made by leaving them
at home. Smaller peaches and
peaches containing some imperfec-
tions are often put in boxes without
being wrapped and are sold for pie
purposes and canning purposes, or
disposed of to advantage locally. |
would recommend that smaller
peaches than the OPS be not shipped,
as / doubt if it would warrant the
freight and express charges. There
might be seasons when the peach
crop was very light that one could
realize profit on such small peaches,
but only under such conditions.
In packing peaches in boxes avoid
what is known as straight pack. In
the straight pack each peach in the
second layer comes directly above
the peach in the bottom layer. This
makes considerable bruising. Pack
what is known as the diagonal pack,
the 2-5, 3-3. These throw the sec
ond layer into the spaces left in the
first layer The 4-5 is used with
some smaller grades. The AS pack,
however, has not received much fa-
vor in the market, too many open
spaces being left on the sides of the
boxes.
The 2-3 pack will be put up in
the following way: Start with the
end of the box, the first peach going
up against one side of the end, the