FORTY-FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT. 79 



llie nearest I can tell it cost about 48c per bbl., not including cost of 

 barrel, for picking and packing and hauling to car. 



The use of packing shed properly arranged cut my average cost for 

 1912 to 29c i^er bbl. We made a straight orchard run pack, putting 

 No. 1 and No. 2 together. If I had had a grading machine that year I 

 could have made a separate pack and received a much higher price for 

 the No. 1 fruit. As it was, the entire crop of something over 15,000 

 bushels did not bring what it should have because of the presence of 

 some 10% No. 2 apples in the barrels which lowered the standard or 

 grade of all. On the other hand, had we attempted to pack them in 

 more than one grade, it would probably have necessitated installing 

 another table and packing crew in order to have handled the fruit in the 

 limited time at our disposal. 



SEASON OF 191 



o 



Season of 1913 we had a severe and prolonged drouth which was not 

 broken until the middle of September. The fruit was very uneven in 

 size and it was apparent that a mechanical sizing device would be the 

 only packing solution to what promised to be a difficult and expensive 

 packing season. I accordingly installed a fruit grader, driving it with 

 a little 1 H. P. engine I used during the spraying season to pump water. 

 Owing to the lack of size, due to drouth, the fruit culled 50%, but the 

 balance looked nice after being packed, due to the uniformity. This 

 fruit stood up nicely and sold out of cold storage in April at |4.75. 

 The average cost of picking and packing this crop was 41c per bbl., due 

 to the fact that it was necessary to practically handle two barrels of 

 fruit for every one packed. 



SEASON OP 1914. 



It remained for the season of 1914 to fully demonstrate the value of 

 uj/to date i)acking methods. The quality of the fruit was much better 

 than 1913 but not as good nor as evenly distributed on the trees as the 

 1912 crop. We handled approximately 9,500 bushels, which included a 

 large number of drops due to windstorm about the time we commenced 

 packing. Tlie grading machine I use has a receiving table on which 

 the fruit is poured which is similar to the ordinary chute type of pack- 

 ing table. Here is where wormy and defective fruit is removed. The 

 balance are passed down the table onto the sizing rolls which consist 

 of four large left and right hand screws which turn away from the fruit 

 so that as it is carried along to its proper destination into the canvas 

 bins there is no pinching or bruising of the fruit. Our shed crew con- 

 sisted of ten people, distributed as follows: 



Two men at head of sorting section who assisted driver unload fruit, 

 poured fruit on table and removed any stems or adhering leaves and 

 threw defective fruit in cull chute leading to cull conveyor. 



Two girls at foot of sorting section who fed fruit to sizing rolls and 

 removed any defective fruit which might have escaped the attention 

 of the men. No attention whatever w^as paid to undersized fruit, as 

 the receiving rolls or first section automatically removed them and dis- 

 charged them to the cull conveyor. 



Two men packers — one at either side of sizing rolls, who picked out 



