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Show (picking and handling market cherries L 1 i'V .;;:?iV sSk-.'- ' ""S-vvV'-v ...';i-v , : .v -. J 0 t V- - . - MOVABLE TYPE OF PACKING HOUSE. (Prepared by the United States Department Depart-ment of Agriculture.) The manner in which cherries are picked is governed in a measure by the disposition to be made of them. Where they are to be shipped to a distant market, the stems must be left on the fruit. If they are pulled off, the juice will ooze from the fruit. When harvested with the stems on, the picker carefully grasps at one time the stems of several fruits in a cluster and strips them from the tree by giving a slightly backward puil. If due care is exercised, the stems will remain firmly attached to the fruit and the spurs will not be broken or otherwise injured. In one important cherry-growing region the common method of removing the cherries is by clipping the stems with scissors or shears. When pickers become accustomed accus-tomed to using shears, they usually object to doing it In any other way, though probably it Is not quite so rapid a method as stripping the fruit by hand. If the fruit goes to a cannery located In the immediate vicinity of the orchard, or-chard, it is commonly pulled from the Istem. Canners usually pay more for fruit picked in this way than for that which retains the stems. They are .saved the expense of stemming after 'the fruit reaches the cannery, and a given bulk of cherries without stems ;contalns an appreciably larger quantity quan-tity of actual fruit than an equal bulk ;with stems. Fruit gathered by clipping clip-ping the stems, however, is not desired (by commercial canners, as the portion of the stem that remains on the fruit lis too short to be removed by the mechanical me-chanical stemmers commonly used. : Comparatively small receptacles are ter flavor and quality are also securoC by allowing the fruit to remain ti tin-tree tin-tree as long as consistent with the use to he made of it. Various methods of handling t.'i fruit after it is picked are followed indifferent in-different growers. It may be pa-exeS in the orchard. Iu some sections -ji movable packing house is provided, a common type of which is seen in ib?-Illustration. ib?-Illustration. This house is built cm runners, so that it may be moved rfa3-ily rfa3-ily from place to place by a team. Packages and Packing. Several different stylos of package are used in different sections. I'er-hnps I'er-hnps the lG-quart case shown in FSs. 29 is used for shipping larger qtmn-tities qtmn-tities of cherries than any other cute-style. cute-style. In some sections 24-quurt or 32-quart crates, similar to those sho-wn in the illustration, are preferred. of these styles of packages are extensively exten-sively used for shipping strawberries. Baskets holding six or eight jxrauiis prevail in other sections. A few growers grow-ers pack sweet cherries in ten-poured flats, similar to those that are . ewa-monly ewa-monly used in California for a similat purpose. Sequence of . Ripening of Different Va rieties. The cherry season is relat?vej;-short, relat?vej;-short, and it is Important that the rad-eties rad-eties which a grower may plant shaH ripen in such a sequence that lie caia both pick the fruit and market it (to-the (to-the best possible advantage. The list of varieties given herewili includes those of the most eommercltfd importance and a considerable Banfk'T of others that are grown more or lexst commonly in small lots or in horae Ktr-chards. Ktr-chards. They are named as nenriy jis- 1 J i I "I ! J ill CHERRIES PACKED IN 32-QUART CRATES. possible in the order in which IhL-y ripen. LIST OF VARIETIES, NAMED IV THEIR APPROXIMATE OHDEK C'F' RIPENING. The number In parenthesis follo-u-?? each variety signifies (1 ) a sour variety,. (2), a sweet variety, and t3) a .Duke variety. va-riety. t. Early Purple (2). 2. May Duke-CO. 3. C'oe (Coe's Transparent) (2). 4. Kockport (2). 5. Eugenie (Empress Eugenie) (3). 6. Kirtland (2). 7. Dvohouse (1). S. Wood (Governor Wood) (2). 9. Richmond ( Kurlv Richmond) ft). 10. TarlMi-lan (niack Tarlarlan) (ly. 11. Philippine (Louis Philippe) (3). 12. Ollvi-t (3). 13. Eagle (Ulack Eatflc) (2). 14. Ente Duke CI). 15. Spanish (Yellow Spanish) (2). 1(1. Napoleon (Itoval Ann) (2). 17. Schmidt (Schmidt's iilyarreau) CS, IS. Elkhorn (:!). 19. Windsor (2). 20. OKthehii (I). 21. Montmorency (1). 22. l.are Montmorency (1). 23. Dikeman (2). 24. Bessarahlim (1). 2.". EnKliwh Morello (Wragp) (1). 2ii. T.ntuvka (1). 27. Brusscler P.raune (1). 25. Magnilhiue (Rello Mafrniflquc) CD. The order in which the nimies i listed Indicates the sequence in whuli they ripen, as nearly as It Is possible t determine it from available d;il.a, though the sequence of ripening varies more or less in different years, cv-o in the same orchard, as well as in difTf r-ent r-ent orchards; for instance, some (.-rowers report the Windsor as enrlbT, others oth-ers as later, than the Moiitmort-nr-T. This variation should be kept in niiua when making comparisons with iM-.-. list. used .by pickers when harvesting cherries. cher-ries. In some instances five or eight-pound eight-pound baskets are used also for picking, pick-ing, vhile other types of pails, baskets, bas-kets, or similar receptacles of four to sis quarts' capacity are not uncommon uncom-mon among the average picking gang. Under good crop and tree conditions an average picker will harvest 150 to 200 pounds of fruit, or about three to four bushels, in a ten-hour day. Exceptionally Ex-ceptionally rapid pickers sometimes harvesf'. as many as 400 pounds in a clay. Where the trees are headed low a good deal of the fruit can be picked without climbing, but to reach the fruit on the higher limbs stepladders or straight ladders are used. licking is paid for usually by the pound or quart; sometimes by the gallon, gal-lon, case or crate. In nearly all commercial com-mercial orchards picking Is piecework rather than daywork, and the prevailing prevail-ing rate is one cent a pound, or 25 cents a crate of 10 quarts. The assembling of an adequate number num-ber of pickers is a critical feature in the proper handling of n crop of cherries. cher-ries. The fruit should not be picked until it is ripe. When this stage is reached, it should be moved very promptly; otherwise it will deteriorate. Under favorable conditions the period of durability of ripe fruit on the trees of the more important varieties is rarely more than live or six days. In orchards where the fruit is ripening uniformly, so that the trees can be stripped ftt one picking if desirable, a force of eight to twelve pickers to the acr is not unusual. It i? not always an easy matter to decide just when cherries should be picked. The tendency Is to pick as soon as they are slightly colored and before they are fully ripe. The fruits usually increase quite rapidly both in size and weight during the lust two or three days before full ripeness is f.n.ii.l Tn.-f ii node i.,-.. Ti.r1,-i-,rl r. |
