October, 1921 



BETTER FRUIT 



Page 9 



The Advantages of Central Packing Plants 



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I T/ie (■ i! n I r a I (O-oferative apple | 



I packing plant is becoming recognized | 



I as a great aiil in handling the crops | 



I in coinmunities zchere the ■fields on | 



I individual ranches are small. In | 



I handling the outputs of the ranchers | 



I in one of these plants equipped with | 



I the latest appliances it can be done | 



I rapidly and cheaply with a compara- | 



I tivel-j small investment to its pat- | 



I rons. It is this feature that is taken | 



I up in a colloquial way in this article | 



I and worked out to an interesting con- | 



I elusion. — Editor. \ 



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"TTQW are you to pack your apples this 

 -[1- fall, Brown?" I asked a neighbor of 

 mine the other day. 



"As usual, I suppose; do it at home by 

 a crew," was the answer. "I'm not well 

 prepared for it, either. I need a larger 

 packing shed and I could use a storage 

 cellar, but the cost of building is so high 

 just now that I must get along with what 

 equipment I have. ' 



"What do you think of sending your 

 fruit to the new central packing plant?" I 

 asked. 



"I haven't given it much thought," re- 

 plied Brown; "it's a new idea in this coun- 

 try, and I'm not sure it will appeal to the 

 growers. What do you think of it?" 



"I believe it will solve the packing prob- 

 lem for a large number of orchardists," I 

 replied. "In the first place most growers 

 have but small orchards ranging in size 

 from five to ten acres. For each owner to 

 build a suitable packing and storage plant 

 with the most necessary mechanical equip- 

 ment, even if he does not install graders, 

 conveyors, elevators and so on, would re- 

 quire a large sum of money. Whereas, if a 

 central packing plant were patronized it 

 would render a plant on each tract unnec- 

 essary." 



"That's quite true," said Brown; "it 

 would conserve building and equipment. 

 The latest labor-saving devices could 'be 

 installed and the entire cost would be but 

 a fraction of the cost of building a num- 

 ber of individual plants." 



"Then, too," said I, "a pl.mt patronized 

 by a large nunvber of growers would con- 

 tinue in operation all fall and winter. This 

 means that the geratest amount of service 

 would be yielded by the investment. In 

 the orchard the packing plant is in use one 

 or two months of the year at most. The 

 rest of the time it stands idle, as it is sel- 

 dom, used for anything else, and earns 

 nothing." 



"I can see that," said Brown. "I also be- 

 lieve that the fruit would be put on the 

 market in better order. That is, the early 

 varieties would be packed, shipped and on 



By John H. WatlJng, Monitor, Washington 



the market before the warehouses became 

 congested with the later apples. In fact, 

 one variety of apples throughout the com- 

 munity might be packed and shipped before 

 another kind were packed. This, of course, 

 would be of much benefit to the buyer." 

 "I believe," said I, "that the condition 

 of the apples would be much better if they 

 were packed in a central plant, for a pre- 

 cooling room would be provided. On no 

 orchard have I seen such a place. The low 

 temperature of this place, where the ap- 

 ples would be put to cool upon delivery, 

 would stop the ripening process and check 

 the consequent breaking down of the fruit 

 cells, and thus keep the fruit in the best 

 condition for either storage or market." 



"There is something to that," Brown re- 

 plied. "The fruit could be hauled direct 

 from the orchard to the plant. On many 

 a tr.ict the apples stand exposed to the hot 

 sun or in a warm shed for d.iys before 

 being packed. This treatment sometimes 

 ripens the fruit to such a degree that it 

 cannot be stored but must be rushed to 

 market regardless of the demand for the 

 variety. 



"One advantage of the hauling right 

 from the orch.ird," said I, "is that the fruit 

 would be handled at home but once. If the 

 fruit is packed at home it must be unloaded, 

 carried to one side, sorted, .again and placed 

 aside, packed, stamped, and lidded, and 

 again set aside before it is loaded on the 

 wagon or truck and taken to the warehouse. 

 All this h,indling must generally be done by 

 hand. At the warehouse, fruit must pass in- 

 spection. If fault is found with quality or 

 pack, the fruit must be taken back home and 

 re-sorted and packed. All this labor and 

 annoyance would be avoided by patroniz- 

 ing a central plant. 



"Packing at a central plant would help 

 standardize the grades," I continued, "the 

 fruit of all the growers would be packed 

 quite uniformly. At home, although the 

 same definite directions are given by the 



buyers to each grower, differences in qual- 

 ity and color exist." 



"I believe one important advantage to 

 the plan is that the grower could concen- 

 trate on the picking," said Brown, and 

 probably do much of it himself. He could 

 at least see that his fruit was picked with 

 proper regard to color and without being 

 bruised." 



"That's true," I replied, "one's harvest- 

 ing cfew could be greatly reduced and the 

 picking could be finis-hed at .an early date. 

 That's a rather important advantage should 

 an early winter set in. It would lessen the 

 danger of losing apples by sudden frosts." 

 "Not h.aving packers, sorters and the nec- 

 essary handy man would greatly lighten the 

 work in the household," said Brown. "My 

 wife is not very well this fall and dreads 

 the ordeal of cooking for so many hands. 

 I wish it could be avoided. Then too, we 

 feel obliged to serve the crew heavier and 

 more elaborate meals than we would need 

 for ourselves." 



"In many instances," said I, "growers are 

 ill equippted to house and board extra help, 

 and it is often difficult for the growers with 

 a small crop to hire competent packers." 



"I realize," said Brown, "that a central 

 plant would attract the most skilled workers 

 because of the long season and the high 

 wages made possible by the labor-saving 

 mechanical equipment. 



"In fact," he concluded, "I believe that, 

 in spite of prejudice, and some pratical 

 difficulties, the time may soon come when a 

 large percentage of the apples grown in the 

 Northwest will be packed in central plants. 

 I believe I'll try it." 



Melons should be cut with as long stems 

 .as possible when harvested, and they should 

 be loaded within a few hours after cutting. 

 Before lo.iding, the car should be thorough- 

 ly cleaned and provided with bedding oi 

 drv straw. 



I'l.utu li. I'. S. I>c|.l. .\KricuIture 

 Fig. 1. A well constructed community apple packing house 



