FRUIT FOR MARKET.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 28, 3 February 1899, Page 8

FRUIT FOR MARKET.

Great care should be used in picking, packing1, and forwarding fruit for market. In picking:, the fruit should all be pulled off the trees by hand and handled with care, so that it is not- bruised in anyway till it is safely packed. A very small bruise will be sure to cause decay. The pulp of all fruit consists of a large number of cells which contain juice, and if the fruit receives a jar sufficient to burst one of those juice cells, spirituous fermentation will at once set in, and this fermentation will pass rapidly from cell to cell, and in a short period putrefaction will take place. This will also in a very short period pass from fruit to fruit till the whole would soon become a mass of decay. Therefore, great care should be taken so that the fruit receives no damage while it is being handled. Fruit for market should also be picked while it is dry, never in the mornings while the dew is upon it. After picking it should be packed into the boxes, and it should be packed so that it will remain in a solid mass after the lid of the'boxes.is nailed down. If packed so that it will tumble about in the case while in transit, much of it will get damaged. See that nothing but the very best of the fruit is sent to the market. At this period of the season there is so much fruit coming into the market that nothing but the bestwill obtain a price which will pay the expense of sending it to market. In fact, in many instances prices are so low that the fruit does not pay for cases, freight, and other expenses. It would be better in many instances if the growers would try and feed pigs with the inferior fruit. I believe they would get better returns. In forwarding fruit to market great care should be taken in handling the cases while in transit. Many times I have seen the cases handled and dumped about as if they were coals. Under these circum stances, when the boxes are opened, the fruit is covered over with black patches. In this case purchasers will not give so much for it, as in this state it has got to be used up quickly or* it will soon de-