The Orchard.

Dunstan Times, 13 March 1933, Page 7

The Orchard.

There is no phase or orcharding that requires more careful supervision than picking. It might he considered unnecessary and Invoices to inspect the fingernails of pickers, nevertheless a survey of the hips in th* packing shed gmmraiiy reveals a fair | nOportiou of injury due to nail marks. Together with bruised and stemless fruits, the lore-going represent a jargc’ecopoppic )os:;; aii'Aua <ly to growers*

Instruction in the proper method of removing the fruit from spur or lateral will obviate a 1 high occurrence of the abovementioned injuries. Care should be taken that the finger-tips are not used in tins operation. The thumb should be placed at the juncture of the fruit stem and spur and the soft part of the hand used to twist or bend the fruit. It may be suggested that this system may seriously curtail expeditious picking. In contradiction it could be submitted that if the loss entailed through bruising, stemless fruits, broken fruit-spurs, etc., is deducted, the careful picker has a distinct economic value over the careless one in the course of a day’s work. Ruts and uneven surfaces on the road between the orchard and packing sheds are worthy of some attention: The carter has also some responsibility as regords the care used in loading up and stacking in the shed. A conscientious packer is one of the most valuable workers in the cycle of assembling fruit for distribution. If keen he will readily note any variation in the standard passed on from the sorters and draw the shedmanager’s attention to it. On the other hand the ultra-fast | picker is so absorbed in his [ record-breaking effort that it pre--1 eludes attention to standards etc. It must be apparent that only the highest quality in the different standards can effectively command attention to-dav, and all factors adversely affecting that result require to be natedRegarding the bulge necessary in packing, with thin flexible top and bottom case timber fruits at the highest points of the top and bottom of the case is not likely to suffer injury to a serious extent, provided the bulge is built into the pack. That is to say, fruit packed high towards the centre of the case will not suffer, neither will that towards the ends, provided allowance is made in the pack for the latter to readily press down to a level with the end boards. The idea of the flexible top and bottom boards is to satisfactorily take care of the contents of a case packed in this way.