over twelve or fifteen hours, still it is 

 not uncommon to find fruit stacked up 

 in the orchard for several days. Some 

 growers argue that it is better to haul 

 in the fruit during the cool of the morn- 

 ing, after it has been thoroughly cooled. 

 The greatest objeclion offereii to this 

 practice is the accunudation of dew, 

 which makes the fruit very wet and 

 undesirable to handle until later in the 

 day, when the fruit again becomes 

 heated. In some sections they are try- 

 ing the experiment of night hauling. 

 The fruit is picked during the day, and 

 in the early evening and during a good 

 part of the night the fruit is hauled. To 

 bring this about motor trucks are often 

 used. It seems possible in many com- 

 munities to secure trucks that have 

 been working in the cities during the 

 day time, and are generally idle all 

 night. These truckers are quite often 

 glad to have their machines at work 

 during the harvest period. Mr. E. V. 

 Beckwith, manager of the Rogue River 

 Fruit and Products Association, has 

 hauled fruit fourteen miles to his com- 

 munity packing house, using for such 

 purpose the auto truck. We must make 

 an honest endeavor to get our fruit 

 from the orchard to a place where it 

 can be cooled and kept cool in the 

 shortest practicable time. 



Grading and Packing Equipment. 



In choosing the equipment for a 

 house, rapidity, efficiency and economy 

 must be sought. As is true in commerce 

 and manufactures, effort must be made 

 to reduce hand labor to the minimum. 

 Not only must there be good equipment, 

 but it must be so arranged that it allows 

 for speed, system and lack of confusion. 

 The indications now are that the days 

 of hand sizing and of much trucking are 

 past. The fruit grader, or what had 

 better be termed the fruit sizer, and the 

 gravity carrier have come to stay. While 

 there are some growers who feel that 



BETTER FRUIT 



Page 7 



Figure 8 — The fruit which was placed on chute by the man in Figure 7. Note 



that the fruit is being carried directly to wagon from packing room shown 



in Figures .5, and 7. 



the fruit sizer is not what it is repre- 

 sented to be, the great majority of 

 growers in associations in such districts 

 as North Yakima, Spokane, Watsonville 

 and Hood River, who have tried them, 

 speak of the machine in highest praise. 

 From present indications a very large 

 percentage of the fruit in the Hood 

 River Valley this year will pass through 

 mechanical sizcrs. The hand-sized fruit 

 will be the exception, and the machine- 

 graded fruit the rule. In all probability 

 some of the dissatisfaction that has 

 come from the use of fruit sizers has 

 come from the fact that old models 

 have been tried. The fruit-grading 

 machine manufacturers have benefited 



l'"iGURF. — This shows a 

 much and not too little, 

 carriers. This view will 



well proportioned room — plenty of space, not too 

 This means economy. Note the"good use of gravity 

 also give a good idea of the tyi>e of conslruction of 

 this building. 



from four or five years' experience, 

 until now most of the machines have 

 been greatly improved and the later 

 models seem to be giving very good 

 satisfaction. There are many models of 

 machines on the market. Some grade 

 according to size, but the present ten- 

 dency with most machines is to grade 

 according to weight. Nearly all the 

 machines will give at least two grades, 

 and some will grade three at the same 

 time. Where only two grades are car- 

 ried through the machine at the same 

 time, the practice is to run the remain- 

 ing fruit, which would make C grade 

 and cookers, through the machine on a 

 second run. There are some half dozen 

 machines being used in the Pacific 

 Northwest and California, and the 

 manufacturers will be vei-y glad to 

 furnish readers with teslimonials of 

 Iheir efficiency. The wiifer has ob- 

 tained letters from users of practically 

 all of these machines. These machines 

 are the Culler fruit sizer, the Nuna- 

 maker grader, and the Palmer grader, 

 all of Hood Hivei-; the Oregon apple 

 sizer, of The Dalles; the Price sorter 

 and sizer, of North Yakima, and the 

 Nelson grader, of North Yakima. Those 

 who have used the machines exten- 

 siveb' claim the following advantages: 

 Mrst, that much cheaper grading and 

 packing results. For example, where 

 packing from hand-size<l fiiiit usually 

 cost as high as six cents a box, much of 

 tile machine-sized fruit can be packed 

 at as low a cost as three cents. Second, 

 the machine is nnich more rajjid. Where 

 formerly a grower packed from ,'JO to 

 7.") boxes a day, he now packs from 1(10 

 to 12.') boxes. The use of the machine 

 has often allowed the grower to get 

 along with such makeshifts as tents for 

 use as packing houses. It has also 

 meant that much less room foi- tempor- 

 ary storage of fruit before it is graded 

 is required with machines, than where 

 hand grading is resorted to. Again, 



