Page 8 



BETTER FRUIT 



September, 1919 



no machine is human — it cannot see 

 imperfections ami judge of color. It 

 takes a quicl< and experienced eye and 

 hand to detect imperfect fruit, or fiuit 

 that should not go into the best grades 

 on account of lack of color. Where 

 po.ssihle, experienced hands should he 

 selected to grade apples for ipiality and 

 they should he fully instructed each 

 year in any clianges in the provisions 

 for disqualifying the fruit on ac<()unt 

 of blemishes or color. Where it is not 

 possible to employ experienced graders, 

 they should be init to work under the 

 supervision of an old hand for instruc- 

 tion and to carefully watch their work. 

 The pack is very important, too, hut it 

 should be rememhcred that a competent 

 packer can make a good appearing pack 

 from fruit of any quality, provided it is 

 I)roperly sized. The packers are ex- 

 pected to keep their eyes open for fruit 

 of inferior quality that gets past the 

 grader and remove it, and while they do 

 this to some extent, they are inclined to 

 pack anything that comes to the table 

 from the sizcr and graders. In years 

 when apples are high in price some 

 growers have a habit of winking at this 

 practice and taking a chance on getting 

 by. This idea, however, is a bad one 

 from all points of view. It lessens the 

 morale of the packing house crew, 

 causes the grower's pack to be looked 

 upon with suspicion and ultimately re- 

 sults in a distinct loss in his profits. 

 The apple sorter or grader, therefore, 

 is the most important factor in a pack- 

 ing house, for, if he does his work 

 efficiently and conscientiously, he can 

 force a careless packer or an unscrupu- 

 lous grower to put up a good quality 

 pack. 



Progress in Packing Apples. 

 While the mechanical grading of ap- 

 ples has simplified apple packing, it is 

 still somewhat of a science, and every- 

 body who tries cannot make a success 

 of if. To be a good apple or pear packer 

 requires a quick eye for gauging size, 

 deft hands, a large amount of nervous 

 energy and a goodly percentage of 

 horse sense and common honesty. In 

 the last few years fruit packing has be- 

 come more or less of a fixed occupation 

 for hundreds of expert packers, who 

 travel along the Pacific Coast between 

 California and the Northwest states 

 packing out the various fruits during 

 their seasons. As apple and orange 

 packing are more nearly alike, large 

 groups of these professional packers 

 now come from California to the North- 

 west each year during the apple pack- 

 ing season and return to the citrus belt 

 in time for the first orange crop. 



In addition to these professionals are 

 the still larger groups of resident pack- 

 ers who pack out the greater proportion 

 of the Northwest apple crop and on 

 whom the growers of the various dis- 



Experienced Orchardist and 

 Nurseryman wants position as 

 foreman or manager. 



MOUNT DOME RANCH 

 Siskiyou Co. Mt. Dome, California 



tricts rely to a greater degree than on 

 the migrations of the hobo packers. 

 The yeaily influx of these professionals 

 has, liowever, been iif consi<leiable ben- 

 efit to the ai)ple packing game, as they 

 have hrougiit with them from time to 

 time improved nietliods, such as belter 

 trays for holding apple wrappers, 

 quicker ways of placing the apples in 

 the box and surer systems for a pack 

 true to size. 



The fundamental principle for a be- 

 ginner in learning to jiack apples or 

 pears is to become familiar with the 

 various standard packs and learn to put 

 them up correctly before trying to gain 

 speed. The novice in attempting to get 

 too much speed at the start is very 

 likely to lower the excellence of his 

 pack. Having become thoroughly versed 

 in how to pack, rapidity in packing will 

 naturally come to the beginner accord- 

 ing to his fitness for the occupation. 

 The cardinal point in packing apples is 

 to have the pack, both in (piality and 

 size, as near perfect and as nearly rep- 

 resentative of the grade marked on the 

 outside of the box as possible. The cor- 

 rect bulge is also very essential, as it 

 plays an important part in having the 

 fruit ship well and also sell to a better 

 advantage. The bulge is for the pur- 

 pose of keeping the package tight and 

 also to take care of the shrinkage, so 

 that the buyer will be satisfied that he 

 is getting a full package of fruit. 



With the adoption of a standard apple 

 pack for the Northwest a year or two 

 ago, the experienced packer needs little 

 instruction, but for the beginner the 

 illustrations and rules for packing pub- 

 lished in this number of Better Fhuit 

 will prove valuable. By following these 

 instructions, particularly those relating 

 to starting the pack, the beginner should 

 learn rapidly. The opportunity to attend 

 an apple-packing school in advance of 

 the shipping season, where experienced 

 instructors are provided, will prove of 

 the greatest assistance and should be 

 taken advantage of by all beginners if 

 possible. 



Handling the Pear Crop. 

 The pear crop in the Pacific North- 

 west this year will be the largest ever 

 shipped from this section and will be 

 sold for the highest prices. More than 

 the usual care, therefore, should be 

 exercised in packing and handling it. 

 Compared to apples, pears are relatively 

 poor keepers. They are easily bruised, 

 decay rapidly, and to get the best mar- 

 keting results should be handled very 

 rapidly from orchard to cold storage. 

 In fact, where it is possible pears should 

 he placed in cold or cool storage almost 

 as soon as they are picked, and then if 

 to be sold fresh should be packed out 

 from the storage house. 



The Time for Picking. 



The time for picking pears should be 

 watched very closely, as they ripen 

 more unevenly than any other fruit, and 

 if several pickings are made will keep 

 better and many more of them can be 

 sold fresh instead of being sent to the 

 canneries. Pears should be picked when 



BEST SERVICE- 

 UALITYa PRICES 



W PERFECTION IN 



' FRUIT 

 VIABELS 



1423-24 NORTHWESTthn uh^'K 

 PORTLAND. OREGON. 



E.Shelley Morgan 



NORTHWESTER N t^ANA GER , 



WE CARRY-ANO CAM SHIP IN 24 

 HOURS-STOCK LABELS FOR PEARS,J 

 APPLES.CHERRIES a STRAWBERRIES 



they have attained a mature size, al- 

 though still green. When they have 

 arrived at that stage of ripeness where 

 they can be easily snapped from the 

 spur they are ready to be taken to the 

 packing house. 



Packing. 



Pears are packed very much the same 

 as apples, although on account of their 

 irregular shape the fruit at each end of 

 the box in the alternate layers is turned 

 with the stem end in. The method em- 

 ployed in packing pears is the 3-3 and 

 2-2 diagonal pack. The boxes are lined 

 with paper, the same as in a fancy pack 

 of apples, and the fruit carefully placed 

 in wrappers. 



In grading pears the best or fancy 

 grade should he as near perfect as pos- 

 sible and be free from worms, bruises, 

 stings, disease marks or defects of any 

 kind. The second or choice grade con- 

 sists of fruit that is free of diseases of 

 all kinds, but may contain pears that 

 are misshapen to a certain degree. 

 Those which are slightly limb rubbed 

 or have worm stings that have been 

 healed over are also permitted in this 

 grade. Pears are graded by the packer 

 and are now packed from a packing 

 table the same as apples, instead of 

 being packed from the orchard boxes 

 as formerly. 



In the Pacific Northwest this year it 

 is estimated that California will pro- 

 duce a crop of over 4,000,000 bushels of 

 pears (its largest crop), Washington 

 1,600.000 bushels and Oregon (iOO.OOO 

 bushels. 



