FORTY-FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT. 69 



spi-a}' engine taken from the spray wagon in operation in the pictures 

 thrown upon the screen. The apples lieep coming and the sorters 

 have to keep busy and unconsciously they speed up in their work with 

 the result that at the close of the day you have twice as many apples 

 in the barrel as under the old system with the same amount of labor. 

 With two of these machines in the same packing shed parallel and 

 twelve feet apart with the side delivery aprons coupled together and 

 carrying the number two's from both machines to one place, the 

 two are barreled with one set of hands thus saving valuable space and 

 labor. The one's are barreled on the concrete floor and from there are 

 stacked in the delivery room. From 700 to 900 barrels were packed 

 daily in this packing shed. Teams with flat top wagons and low wheels 

 such as 3'ou will see upon the j)icture screen are constantly hauling 

 api)les from the packing gang in the orchard to the packing shed and 

 unloading into the grading machines. 



The modern apple i)icker is equipped with a pointed ladder made 

 for the purpose. A ]»icking sack which empties from the bottom into 

 a bushel crate, with a foreman in charge who sees to it that rough 

 work in handling the ladders and in picking the apjdes and emptying 

 them into the crates is eliminated, we have the necessary equipment 

 for starting the apple along its way to the consumer. Kough handling 

 of the ladders in placing them knocks off the fruit or bri\ises the apples. 

 Careless handling of the sack in shifting the sack about or in coming 

 down the ladder and dropping the contents a foot or so into the crates 

 all contribute to bruises and the foreman must be always on the job 

 to eliminate as much as possible. Setting one box upon another with- 

 out first taking ofl" from the top those apples likely to be bruised in 

 stacking them in the i)acking shed is another milepost which needs 

 watching. Emptying from the crate into the moving canvass of the 

 grader is another. The grader should not be run faster than directions 

 call for. A canvass must be used in letting apples down into the bar- 

 rel for they must not be allowed to droi) from the grading machine to 

 the bottom of the barrel as I have witnessed in the packing ware- 

 houses of New York. 



Barrels should be faced with the uniform size of fruit of good color 

 and- the apples settled into the barrel as it is filled by gently shaking 

 the barrel. The barrels should Avhen filled be tailed or faced otf with 

 the same sized fruit as in the barrels throughout, but the color side of 

 the apples should be faced up. A good looking gjrl looks best when 

 smiling and so should the apples put their best foot foremost to create 

 a favorable impression. I have seen a buyer turn from a car of apples 

 because of one defective or green apple on the face of the barrel. I have 

 had horse buyers tell me they could tell a good horse when they see it 

 whether poor or fat, but believe me the horse that is in good condition 

 sells for the most money. The face of the barrel of apples is supposed 

 and expected to look 20% better than the run of the barrel and if it 

 does not the buyer who usually buys to sell again is disappointed. 



Marketing apples in the middle west has not reached perfection as" 

 yet any more than has growing. There is much less co-operation in 

 the selling tlian in the growing and for this reason many a grower has 



