BETTER FRUIT 



EDITOR: W. H. WALTON 



STATE ASSOCIATE EDITORS 



OREGON— C. I. Lewis, Horticulturist. 



WASHINGTON — Dr. A. L. Melander. Entomologist : 

 O. M. Morris. Horticulturist. Pullman. 



COLORADO — C. P. Gillette. Director and Entomologist: 

 E. B House. Irrigation Expert, State Agricultural College, 

 Fort Collins. 



ARIZONA— F. J. Crider. Horticulturist, Tucson. 



.MONTANA— H. Thornber. Victor. 



CALIFORNIA — C. W. Wooduorth, Entomologist. Berke- 

 ley; W. H. Volek, Entomologist, Watsonville; Leon D. 

 Batchelor, Horticulturist. Riverside. 



INDIANA— H. S. Jackson. Pathologist. Lafayette. 



An Illustrated Magazine Devoted to the Interests 



of Modern, Progressive Fruit Growing 



and Marketing. 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY 



Better Fruit Publishing Company 



703 Oregonian Building 



PORTLAND, OREGON 



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Entered as second-class matter April 22, 1918, 



at the Postoflice at Portland, Oregon, under 



the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879. 



Volume XV 



Portland, Oregon, September, 1920 



Number 3 



Practical Hints on Packing Apples and Pears 



GRADING apples is so closely re- 

 lated to packing that where it 

 is possible a long step toward 

 quicker methods of grading can be 

 had by having the pickers do some of 

 the grading in the orchard. This is 

 possible where pickers are paid by the 

 day, instead of by the box. Grading can 

 then begin with the picking of the fruit 

 from the trees. 



Pickers, after having taken the fruit 

 from the trees into pails, bags or 

 other receptacles, should be required 

 to empty them into the apple boxes, 

 which are to be taken to the places 

 for storing, not by pouring, but by 

 hand, and then as though each fruit 

 was an egg. During this transfer the 

 picker could look for fruits badly 

 blemished, and place them in boxes, 

 in order that they may be gathered 

 and disposed of as conditions require 

 later. The fruit so assorted may then 

 be stored in the place for receiving 

 them, and left until such time as the 

 owner is desirous of packing, at 

 which time it could be carefully as- 

 sorted in readiness for the packers. 



In building a packing house, the 

 opening between the storing room and 

 packing shed should be made in the 

 center of the side of the storing room, 

 and not in the end of the building. 

 By using the proper and most com- 

 plete packing table all the materials 

 needed in packing may be readily at 

 hand and save considerable loss of 

 the packer's time in waiting to be sup- 

 plied with same. The packing tables 

 should be equipped with proper and 

 handy places for lining paper, layer 

 board, wrapping paper, etc., and so 

 arranged that the packer may have 

 three different sizes before him at 

 one time. For instance, while packer 

 No. 1 is packing, say, 72, 112 and 125, 

 packer No. 2 may utilize the three 

 probable other sizes that No. 1 cannot 

 then use— 80, 88 and 96. As packer 

 No. 1 completes one of his numbers 

 he has but to notice the size about 

 completed by No. 2, and if the con- 

 tents of the tables used by No. 1 and 

 No. 2 show a sufficient quantity of 

 the sized apples used by No. 2 in com- 

 pleting his nearly finished box, No. 1 

 may then commence a box of the 

 same size. In this way all the sizes 

 may be kept cleaned from the tables 



By An Experienced Packer 



and a packing of the different sizes 

 distributed to each packer in proper 

 turn. Of course the most important 

 feature of a successful packing crew 

 is a perfect system. A complete sys- 

 tem cannot be brought about by 

 proper fixtures alone. In fact some 

 very inconvenient packing sheds have, 

 with careful thought of the foreman, 

 brought out a system seemingly im- 

 possible to attain. 



Packing is the classification of 

 fruits into their proper sizes by plac- 

 ing the fruits of the same size solidly 

 into boxes in such a manner as to 

 insure uniformity of appearance, neat- 

 ness and protection from bruising. 

 The purpose of careful packing is to 

 make the box of fruit attractive as 

 possible, and thereby receive the 

 highest possible price for it. 



There were a number of different 

 systems of packing in boxes followed 

 on the Pacific Coast for a number of 

 years, and this has brought about the 

 adoption of a system that allows the 

 packing of every size or shape of 

 apple grown neatly and solidly in one 

 sized box, the Northwest Standard 

 (10%xll%xl8, inside measurement, 

 containing 2,176 cubic inches). 



At this point I wish to warn the 

 purchaser of boxes against improperly 

 made boxes, for there is nothing so 

 distasteful to the trade as a poorly 

 manufactured box. Do not buy apple 

 boxes with heads less than three- 

 fourth inch in thickness. Do not buy 

 boxes with sides less than three- 

 eighths inch in thickness. Do not 

 buy boxes with top and bottom board 

 thicker than one-fourth inch, for 

 these must be thin and springy. Do 

 not buy boxes, unless the top consists 

 of two pieces and the bottom of two 

 pieces, with two cleats each for top 

 and bottom. Do not use sides made 

 of two pieces, even though tongued 

 and groved, for they are much weaker 

 than single-piece material of the same 

 thickness, and when a box is tightly 

 packed will bulge, and as apple boxes 

 should always be handled on the 

 sides, when so handled will undoubt- 

 edly damage the fruit. This is also 

 the reason for insisting on lull three- 

 eighths-inch thickness in these pieces. 



In packing apples, the size of the 

 apple is invariably determined by the 



diameter of the apple from cheek to 

 cheek at the widest point, never from 

 stem to blosSom, hence the reason 

 why an apple should never be placed 

 stem or blossom-end toward the sides 

 of the box. Hardly an apple is abso- 

 lutely circular in shape at its greatest 

 cheek circumference, and it is here 

 that the packer may take advantage of 

 this irregularity in packing Ben Davis 

 apples, one of the most difficult of 

 apples to pack, for the reason that 

 they are about the same distance from 

 stem to blossom as from cheek to 

 cheek, and will not, when turned, 

 have brought about the results usually 

 attained by turning in this manner. 

 However, as before stated, if the 

 packer will carefully save for the 

 end of the boxes those in even a 

 slight degree irregular and place at 

 the ends so as to keep the apples 

 lowest where they will not prove too 

 high, and by the use of the more 

 nearly circular ones through the cen- 

 ter, a beautiful crown may be brought 

 about. 



In packing a two-two pack, start by 

 placing one apple in the lower left- 

 hand corner and the other in the cen- 

 ter of the space left from the cheek 

 of the apple placed in the corner to 

 the opposite side of the box. This 

 will leave a space on each side of the 

 apple last placed of equal width. 

 Settle firmly back into the spaces then 

 left two more apples in exactly the 

 same relatives position on the other 

 side of the box. Continue this until 

 the opposite end of the box is 

 reached, where there will be a space 

 which, by a firm pressure downward 

 and toward the packer, will enlarge 

 the space sufficiently to permit of the 

 last two apples being fitted snugly 

 into place and at the same time take 

 all of the extra slack out of the layer. 

 Begin the second layer by placing the 

 first two apples into the two little 

 pockets formed by the spaces and the 

 first four apples in the first layer, and 

 continue to the end of the box as in 

 the first layer, ending up with last 

 two apples in the pockets similar to 

 those at the beginning of the second 

 layer. Continue to build up the third 

 and fourth layers in the same way as 

 the first and second, always placing 

 the apple in the pockets formed and 



