ipiS 



BETTER FRUIT 



Page 7 



Central Packing Sheds and Weighing -In System 



THE adoption of the central packing 

 system has been tliorouglily justi- 

 fied during the last three years by 

 the often-expressed preference of buy- 

 ers for fruit so handled. In each case, 

 during the past year, the buyer has 

 asked that the manifests be marked as 

 central-packed fruit or individually 

 packed, and the preference in every 

 case has been for the central-packed 

 product. This preference is not due 

 wholly to the fact that fruit so packed 

 is of a higher grade than nught be ob- 

 tained in individually-packed fruit, but 

 the preference is shown on account of 

 the assurance of uniformity in the 

 centrally-packed fruit as opposed to the 

 inevitable variations in grade which 

 always has been and always will be 

 found in the home pack. Absolute per- 

 fection is not so important as absolute 

 uniformity. But even in the degree of 

 perfection accompanying the product of 

 the central shed, there is a very com- 

 mon criticism which to my mind is 

 wholly unjustified. 



When any farmer visits the packing 

 shed of another, he does so in a critical 

 frame of mind, and no matter what the 

 conditions in that .shed may really be 

 he invariably leaves it convinced that 

 his own product is greatly superior to 

 that of his neighbor. In the central 

 shed all farmers are visitors. Each and 

 every one of them enters in that critical 

 frame of mind and so convinces himself 

 that the product of the central shed is 

 greatly inferior to his own home pack. 

 In a few cases the product really is in- 

 ferior to the home pack, but in the great 

 majority of cases it is much better. The 

 average is greatly raiseil, and the 



By Ira Cleveland, Entiat, Washington 



preference of the trade shows beyond 

 a shadow of doubt that the results are 

 beneficial to the whole community. 



In discussing packing house and 

 equipment it is rather hard to know 

 just where to start and stoi). ^hich out- 

 side work is so closely connected with 

 packing operations that it is impossible 

 to separate the two. To begin with we 

 might take up the matter that the man- 

 agement of the shed have control of the 

 picking, in order that varieties may be 

 picked and delivered in their proper 

 order of maturity. To do this it is 

 essential that a field man be maintained 

 working between the house and grower. 

 The packing should be done in such a 

 manner as to get the least possible 

 bruising. After the fruit is packed it 

 should be allowed to set in the open 

 over night where it can receive the 

 benefit of the night chill. The best 

 results are obtained where the hauling 

 to the packing house is done in the cool 

 of the morning. However, this is not 

 always practicable, and in such cases 

 the boxes of apples should be i)laced in 

 the shade of the trees or grouped and 

 covered for protection during the heat 

 of the day. 



Another point that has been very 

 favorably suggested is that growers 

 must build dormitories for help. If we 

 expect girls and boys from the cities to 

 assist in the apple harvest some pro- 

 vision must be made for their accom- 

 modation. The growers have been 

 largely to blame in our district for 

 their inability to keep help. Now is 

 the time to get busy on such plans and 

 do not play the role of the man that 

 shovels snow in July. Varieties have 



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Stayed on the tree this year far past 

 maturity on account of not being able 

 to pick faster. Besides, the stringing 

 out of deliveries of varieties adds much 

 expense to the packing-house cost. 



The hauling should be done with 

 conveyance equipped with springs. In 

 loading particular attention should be 

 given to the weight of the load, as 

 springs overloaded are almost as bad 

 as no springs at all. Springs that are 

 not loaded heavy enough are also very 

 hard on the fruit. After the apples are 

 delivered very little time should be lost 

 in getting the fruit packed out and into 

 the cool rooms or car, whichever the 

 case might be. The method of receiving 

 the fruit is handled in two ways, by 

 keeping the individual fruit separate or 

 by the weight system, which has been 

 adopted this year by several plants in 

 the North Central Washington district. 

 In lOlG, I introduced info the Entiat 

 warehouse the system of weighing-in 

 loose fruit at the central shed, and by 

 the development of this method believe 

 that the operation of the central shed 

 has been greatly facilitated and made 

 much more efficient than could be 

 hoped untler the system previously in 

 use. A great saving in floor sijace is 

 effected, the cost of operation is re- 

 duced, errors are avoided. In handling 

 the unpacked fruit there is an absolute 

 saving of from twenty-five to thirty- 

 three and one-third per cent in floor 

 space. This would often mean the 

 difference between a hopeless con- 

 gestion and the free moving of fruit. 



The work is facilitated and the ex- 

 pense of operation reduced by the 

 greater speed with which the farmer 

 can unload his fruit and give way to 

 following teams; by facilitating the 

 checking of unpacked fruit; by elimi- 

 nating the necessity of segregating the 

 fruit into growers' lots preparatory to 

 packing; by eliminating the necessity 

 cf stopping the machines in cleaning 

 up each grower's lot; by obviating the 

 accumulation of fruit in two f)r three 

 of the bins on the packing machine on 

 account of mixing the apples from 

 different orchards; by eliminating the 

 necessity of rechecking grades and 

 sizes after the fruit is packed out in 

 order to prepare original record of 

 packout; by encouraging the cleanup 

 of the varieties in the house, and elimi- 

 nating the necessity of segregating cull 

 fruit. 



The weighing-in system is much 

 freer from possibility of error than is 

 the old method because all errors in 

 mixing growers' lots before packing 

 are avoided, as is also any possibilit>' of 

 error in checking growers' fruit after 

 it has been packed. Throughout the 

 whole system the responsibility is re- 

 moved from several general helpers 

 and placed in the hands of one com- 

 l)etent o])erator, thereby reducing to a 

 mininumi the possiljility of error. Ab- 

 solute accuracy is the essential point in 

 all ijroceihue and each sfc]) must be 

 carried out with precision and complete 



