General Information

Serial #

N/A

Part Number

1

Total Parts

1

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

Canvas bag and straps; metal clips and buckles; leather tie straps and edging at the top of the bag.

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

68.5 cm

Width

39.5 cm

Height

20.0 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Agriculture

Category

Horticulture

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Scheffer Rossum

Country

United States of America

State/Province

Minnesota

City

St. Paul

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Quebec

Period

1940's

Canada

Used at the Waddell apple orchard on Covey Hill in Havelock, Quebec.

Function

Holds fruit when picking fruit off a tree. The apple picker would gather fruit in the bag until it was full then would proceed to emptying its contents into a container. Depositing the apples was simply a matter of walking up to an apple bin, lining up the bag with the box and untying the strap attached to the clasp at bottom of the bag.

Technical

This type of picking bag hangs in front of a person’s torso by means of straps secured around the shoulders and neck. Criss-crossed at the back, this style of harness helped distribute the weight of the fruit accumulating in the bag thus making it more ergonomic. This tool facilitated the gathering process by eliminating the need to carry baskets up and down ladders to pick fruit. Apart from the obvious benefits of two-handed apple picking, the bags made picking safer and alleviated some of the discomfort that was felt when picking apples with one hand. Another useful feature was that the bag could be converted from a full-bushel size to a half-bushel size by simply folding and fastening the bottom of the bag to a leather strap located near the top of the bag.

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

Markings stencilled on canvas with black ink: “NO.7/ Jim Dandy/ “WENATCHEE” Bag/ SCHEFFER & ROSSUM CO./ ST. PAUL, MINN.”; stamped in centre of bag: “WADDELL”; “INDELL WADDELL/ HEMMINGFORD, QUE.” stamped 4 times on various areas of the bag.

Missing

Strap.

Finish

Natural canvas bag, green cloth straps, rusted metal clips and buckles, and grey leather hoop-border around top of bag.

Decoration

None.