Cooperative Work with Columbia University 401 



the barrels, and another to deliver apples to the grading table, take 

 away packed barrels, and place empties. The foreman helps wher- 

 ever necessaiy. Such a gang working ten hours a day, it is said,, 

 will pack from ninety to one hundred and "fifty barrels, depending 

 on the quality, size, and uniformity of the fruit, and the number 

 of varieties on which they work. The cost of packing under this 

 system is given as from nine to seventeen cents per barrel. 



An additional charge of from three to ten cents a barrel is made 

 in plants with a storage capacity of 10,000 barrels and upwards in 

 order to cover storage, manager's salary, interest, and repairs on 

 warehouse, and expenses of handling incidental to loading on cars. 

 The managers, however, are sometimes paid by the barrel, or, 

 where cooperative selling is practiced, they receive a percentage of 

 the returns obtained from sales. Such a method of operation as has 

 been described is, of course, especially practicable for cooperative 

 associations of small growers who expect to use only common (not 

 refrigerator) storage and desire to standardize and market their 

 fruit under a co-mmon label. In such organizations the common 

 practice is to pool the fruit, sell it, -and return to the grower the 

 season's average price on the different varieties and grades. 



When large amounts of fruit are to be handled, however, much 

 more rapid grading is necessary, and a mechanical grader must 

 be employed. The type of grader to be used depends on the 

 capacity desired and individual preference for the principle of 

 operation. 



Mechanical graders with a capacity of two hundred and fifty 

 to four hundred barrels a day are being operated in houses similar 

 in type at a packing cost of from six to twelve cents per barrel, 

 by using a gang of from eight or ten men. 



Those using mechanical graders assert that the most desirable 

 method is to pick into crates in the orchard and haul directly to 

 the packing house, the apples being dumped from the crates on 

 the table of the grader or its conveyor. Each grower is given 

 a receipt on deliveiy. A small book is kept in the office for each 

 grower, in which each load is entered as it packs out. The cost 

 of packing is apportioned to the number of bushels delivered, 

 and the culls are sold and credited to the general packing expense 

 account. 



