Appendix. 205 



quarters for them. This last objection proved so serious in the union 

 at Hood River that paying by the day had to be given up, though at 

 orchards where adequate preparations for the packei's had been made 

 the expense of packing a box was found to be only 4% cents. Packers 

 must be trained to the business, and seldom become really expert until 

 the second or third season. Not every one can become a first-class 

 packer, as it requires a naturally quick hand and good eye for size. 

 Beginners should not expect to get more than half wages the first 

 season. 



STYLES OF PACKS. 



There are a large number of styles of packing apples, varying with 

 the taste and caprice of individual growers, but only a few of them are 

 worth attention here. Perhaps the simplest is the adaptation of the oli 

 barrel pack of the East, in which the bottom and top are faced, the 

 apples in the middle being simply poured in. It is a slovenly, not to 

 say deceitful pack, requiring no grading except to sort out the big ones 

 for facing. Fortunately it is seldom used, and then mostly for inferior 

 fruit that is too small and low priced to justify anything better. 



Of the better class of packs, in which each apple is put individually 

 into place, the three sorts most commonly in vise may be designated as 

 the "straight," "diagonal," and "offset." The sti-aight, or square, pack 

 is made up of i-ows running straight across the box and presents per- 

 haps the neatest appearance of any, but at the same time is severest on 

 the fruit, as each apple is squarely opposed to its neighbors, instead of 

 slipping into the recesses between them as in the other styles. It may 

 be put up in three ways, as the size of the apples requires, which are 

 called from the number of layers and rows in a box the three-tier (Fig- 

 ure 9), four-tier (Figure 10), and five-tier pack (Figure 12.) A six-tier 

 pack is of course possible, but no one in the West cares to bother to 

 pack such small stuffs. The number of apples in the box in each of thesa 

 straight packs may be varied considerably, but reliable men of long 

 experience in the business assure me that no other numbers than those 

 mentioned below are necessary if the fruit is carefully graded. AH 

 apples that can not be put readily into one of these will go into one o? 

 the diagonal packs and much confusion be avoided. These are the 

 figures : 



The three-tier pack (the largest apples packed) should contain fortj/- 

 five apples to the box (five tiers long) or fifty-four (six tiers long.) 



The four-tier pack should contain ninety-six (six tiers long), 112 

 (seven tiers long), 128 (eight tiers long), or 144 (nine tiers long.) 

 The 144 is seldom used, but is occasionally necessary with very flat 

 apples like the Wagener. 



The five-tier pack should contain 200 (eight tiers long.) This is the 

 smallest apple that most growers care to pack, though occasionally one 

 puts up 250 (ten tiers long.) 



