Description of one used by FRED WELLHOUSE.
We usually pick two rows of apples at a time, using gangs of twelve men
with a foreman. We cannot use more to advantage. Each man has a common
grain sack with a leather fastened to the bottom, as used in sowing
grain. These picking sacks are made by taking a strong two-bushel grain
sack. Sew a leather strap six inches long and four inches wide to a
bottom corner of the sack. On the loose end of this strap fasten a
strong metallic hook. To the upper corner on same side of sack fasten a
strong metallic ring or link. Opposite this ring fasten with rivets a
piece of iron six or eight inches long and about half an inch wide and
one-eighth an inch thick, rounded, across the sack mouth at the edge to
hold the sack open. This sack is worn under the left arm, the strap
going over the right shoulder and hooking in front. We use ladders from
twelve to sixteen feet long. The top of the ladder is made narrow so it
can be put between the limbs, being just wide enough at top to set one
foot on at a time. The apples are picked and put in bushel boxes on a
platform on a wagon. The boxes are sixteen inches wide, twenty-four
inches long, and eight inches deep, holding about a bushel, sixteen to a
wagon.