Packing Fruit according to Mrs Beeton

As the fruit approaches the ripe state, nets or mats on short stakes should be suspended beneath, each having a lining of dry moss or lawn grass, not to supersede hand-picking, but to guard against accidental falling. When gathering is to take place, a shallow basket should be selected, covered with a layer of moss or leaves, and each fruit at is removed from the tree should be deposited in it. Packing delicate fruit for short journeys requires much care. Let us recommend for this purpose a box sufficiently deep to hold two tiers of fruit, and no more, and pack these with the following precautions: The box being ready, and a quantity of well-beaten and dry moss, or dried lawn grass in the absence of moss, being provided, wrap each fruit, with the bloom untouched, in a piece of tissue or other equally soft paper, and pack them pretty closely with moss until the first layer is complete, then make it perfectly level by filling up with moss, placing an inner lid over the tier, make a second layer in the same manner, and put the lid in such a way that the fruit, without being exposed to pressure, will nevertheless remain steadily in place.
 

The Best Of Mrs Beeton’s Kitchen Garden, p214