" ' " FORTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT. 35 



different; we get them a little more mature; they are ready to go on 

 the table and eat. It is a little more work to grade by hand, but I be- 

 lieve it pays us in dollars and cents if we can get the help. 



Mr. Sherwood : Last year the barrel outsold the boxes by from two 

 or three to one, and I think it will do it again. The point I want to 

 make is this — that the barrel is the Eastern package for the Eastern 

 apple grower. It is the most economical as it is not necessary for us 

 to pack every apple the same size as in a box. If you pack No. 1 it 

 can vary in size and still be No. 1. I understand the Western growers 

 lose many of their apples by this, and it seems to me for the general 

 market it is a very foolish thing to try boxes. 



Mr. Farnsworth : I think you are right in a certain sense. I be- 

 lieve even in our barrel stuff if we would grade them down so closely 

 that they would not vary to exceed % i'lc^ ^^ ^iz6 and diameter we 

 would get a better price for them. Uniformity appeals to the eye. If 

 you get them uniform in size I believe you will win out even in barrels. 

 But it is my opinion we will get enough more for the box because it 

 is smaller. You set a barrel of apples into a city consumer's cellar 

 and there is no room it is so small, and many of the cellars are heated 

 and the apple is not very good in quality after it has been in a warm 

 cellar for a week, and they lose their taste for anples. But if they can 

 get a fresh box of Ohio or Michigan or New York apples put up just 

 the same, and let them know which were Western and which were 

 Eastern, if we will pack them accordingly, we would get the sales. 



A Member : They are selling better in the barrels. 



Mr. Farnsworth : You take a box of apples and a barrel that are 

 guaranteed, and the same number of bushels of bulk stuff and what is 

 the difference in price? There is sometimes three or four times the 

 difference in price. Now I believe we should not pack apples that can- 

 not be put on the table or eaten with the lights turned off. 



Mr. White : Kegarding Western apples, a man would have to be a 

 packing expert to knoAV how many there are in a box, because there 

 are all the way from eighteen sizes up. Anyway, most of the Associa- 

 tions in the west will pack eighteen sizes in boxes according to the 

 varieties. As to the advantage of the box over the barrel, I just want 

 to speak a few words for the Fruit Growers Association in North]jort. 

 This season everything that went out of the Association at Northport was 

 labeled, and we got a price of f2.65 for all standard apples except 

 Wealthys, and the Association charged 3 cents per barrel for hamdling. 

 Now I don't know whether that is considered a very good price or not, 

 but believe we could have done a little better if we had not been in such a 

 hurry. But taking it all through, we felt pretty well satisfied with |2.65. 



In regard to the mechanical grader, I wish to say that Mr. of 



Empire has used one and has been getting remarkably good prices. 



Mr. Roach: In regard to graders, we have been using one with good 

 success. We just simply stamp the number in the box on each one. 

 The grader made five or six different grades, but we had stamps so we 

 simply stamped the number in each box. When a man come to buy, he 

 knew how many there were in a box — like oranges. All you have to 

 do is keep track of the tiers when you put them in. 



Mr. Farnsworth: Did it bruise the apples? 



Mr. Roach : Not a particle. 



