The eastern packer, however, is blessed with a longer season in which to operate. While in the west there are seldom enough tomatoes to justify a run at the factory before August 15th, the Tri-States packer starts in on the early crop about the 25th of July, and his crop is not as liable to be severely injured by an early frost as is the western crop.
Canning and preserving plants in the west, being scattered rather sparsely over a very large territory, and being farther away from the large centers of population than in the east, the western packer is able to get a large percentage of his tomatoes hauled to the factory by wagon. This is indeed a big advantage, not only in the saving of freight and handling expense, but in the condition of the fruit when delivered to the factory. Probably having been picked not more than twenty-four hours before delivery, the wagon-hauled tomatoes are solid, and because the skin is not broken by repeated handling, thus preventing the growth of molds, they require very little sorting, in fact, no sorting at all in some cases. A load of tomatoes which requires no sorting at all, however, is unusual. If the packer can get his growers to use spring wagons for hauling tomatoes, it is a big advantage, especially if the fruit must be held any length of time at the factory. If the wagon-hauled tomatoes can be worked up quickly the packer gets 100 per cent value for them, which he very seldom does get on shipped tomatoes, which commonly undergo a loss of between 5 and 20 per cent in shipment, depending upon the time involved in shipment, the ripeness of the fruit, the amount of handling it received, the condition of the weather, the kind of crate in which the fruit is packed, and the amount of ventilation it received in transit.
Shipping Tomatoes
Shipment by water, although slow, has the advantage of smoothness of transit, and the crates or baskets of tomatoes are not subjected to the frequent joltings of rail shipments, and it is to be remembered that every jolt makes the tomatoes settle to a certain extent in the crates and mashes the tomatoes in the bottom layers. The best car for rail shipments is the slatted car or stock car, which permits of better circulation than any of the other types. A box car should never be used, as it allows the fruit to heat very badly, and there is no circulation of air. The crates in the slatted cars should be so stacked as to allow as much circulation of air through the car as possible. However, care must be taken that the crates are so stacked that they will not shift. A small air space can always be left at the end of every other row on each side without endangering the stability of the crates, and a large air space can be left at the top.
Tomato Crates
One advantage in the use of the basket over the crate in shipments is the advantage of better circulation of air through the piled baskets of fruit, due to the conical shape of the basket. Good ventilation is thus supplied without danger of the baskets shifting during shipment. The ⅝-bushel basket is used almost universally in the east, while in the west the crate holding a bushel is the common container. The construction of the crate is a more important item than is often thought. The most important point, of course, is strength in construction, and the use of a wood which will not warp easily by alternate soaking and drying out, allowing the nails to become loose and the bottoms to begin to fall out of the crates after a half season’s use. The slats of the crates should have rounded, smooth edges so as not to cut the surface of the tomatoes when they are jolted and weighted down during shipment. The slats should be only close enough together to hold the small tomatoes, so as to permit of as much air circulation as possible. This particularly applies to the bottom of the crates, which become soggy and musty after a little use, and the openings soon become clogged up with tomato substance. It is important to turn a steam hose over the bottoms of such crates to clean them out before returning to the point of shipment. If the empty crates pass along on a chain belt after dumping, this steaming can be accomplished easily. Accumulated decaying tomato substance in the bottom slats not only rots out the crates, but contaminates otherwise good tomatoes every time the crate is used. The crate should also be as shallow as will permit of easy handling, so as to distribute the weight of the tomatoes over as much surface as possible. A shallow, broad crate is preferable to a deep, narrow one.
Degrees of Ripeness for Shipping
The proper degree of ripeness for tomatoes to be shipped depends, of course, upon the length of time it will take for them to arrive at their destination. Dead-ripe tomatoes will stand very little handling and shipping, particularly if the weather is warm and damp, as it so frequently is during tomato season. It is important, too, not to have the tomatoes delivered to the shipping station too underripe, as they are very apt to rot before they become red enough to cook up into a product of good color. That the employee in charge of receiving tomatoes at the shipping point should be a man of experience and good judgment as well as tact in dealing with the farmers, is apparent. So much depends upon the control he exercises over the farmers in getting them to pick their fruit at the proper degree of ripeness. If he falters, is uncertain, and changes his mind a few times, he is lost, as the farmers soon lose confidence in his judgment.
It is always difficult to impress upon the farmer the fact that tomatoes gain in weight during the ripening process, and the riper they have their tomatoes the more they get in dollars when they drive up on the scales. This argument cannot be advanced when the tomatoes are bought by the basket, as they are in the east, but when paid for according to weight and not volume, the ripeness of his tomatoes is an important point for the farmer to watch. At the tail end of the season when frosts are threatening, this argument of the increased weight of tomatoes which are red ripe all over of course loses its effect entirely. All the farmer is interested in at that time is in getting as many of his tomatoes as possible accepted before a heavy frost finishes them. At this time increased vigilance at the receiving end is necessary.