50 CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURAL ExTENsION SErRvicE [Cire 42 
good condition. The grower gains in the weight of the erop by this 
delay and the consumer receives a higher quality of fruit.? 
Under California conditions for long distance shipment, the peaches 
are picked somewhat more immature than is desirable for local mar- 
kets (fig. 13). At the packing house the peaches are graded and each 
individual fruit is wrapped and packed in standard California peach 
boxes. The packed fruit may be precooled and shipped in iced refrig- 
erator cars to eastern markets. 
Fig. 13.—Harvesting operations in a peach orchard. Pickers using metal picking 
pails which are emptied into lug boxes shown stacked in the row. Automobile 
trucks haul the lug boxes to the packing house, shipping point, or cannery. 
Drying Peaches—Peach drying is most extensively practiced in 
the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys. Some peaches are dried in 
southern California; but few along the coast or in the foothills. Only 
firm yellow freestone varieties, principally the Muir, Lovell and 
Elberta, are dried commercially. In the San Joaquin Valley peach 
drying begins as early as July 15 with the Muir and continues into 
September with the Lovell. In the Sacramento Valley most of the 
peaches are dried during August. The drying ratio of Muir and Lovell 
varies from 4:1 to 6:1, while the Elberta will shrink from 6:1 to 8:1. 
EY Duruz, W. P, Harvesting and handling California peaches for eastern ship- 
ment. California Agr. Exp. Sta. Cir. 241:1-21. 1922,