630 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



The western apple packei-s were next, with the vegetable shippers 

 close on their heels. The progressive market gardeners are awake 

 to the fact tluit two giKuled cucunibers cut the price of the whole 

 bushel. Ihuidreds are still asleep. 



Every couimunity must make its own plan of grading. What 

 suits one market docs not suit another. Many are discouraged in 

 setting the standard high, because the lower grades are becoming 

 increasingly dil'llcult to sell. During the last season we had to dis- 

 card a considerable proportion of our second grade tomatoes at 

 Cornell, but it paid. At one time, ordinary run-of-the-field fruit 

 was bringing twenty-five cents a basket. Our primes sold at forty, 

 cents, and nmny of our seconds at twenty to twenty-five cents. 

 However, seconds are not wanted in large quantity on most markets. 

 Many hold that the moral of this is, "Don't grade. If the consumer 

 doesn't want seconds, make him take them with the best." But the 

 true moral is, "Don't giow seconds," Of course, there will be some 

 inferior fruit, but if, by selecting a well bred strain of a good va- 

 riety, and by giving the best cult^ire, Ave can reduce the seconds to 

 very low proportions, we will not object to leaving a fev/ culls in 

 the field, or to hauling a few loads to the evaporator. 



One of the most common mistakes in grading is in reducing the 

 standards when the pi ice drops. When markets are glutted, the 

 question ceases to be one of securing a high price, but it becomes 

 a question of moving the crop, or letting it rot. People continue to 

 use the product, and that in large quantities. They are willing to 

 pay a price which will cover marketing cost and a good share of 

 production, but the question is, which grower sells and which does 

 not? Naturally, the one with the best sells. The following clip- 

 ping, which is typical of a large number that appeared in our trade 

 papers during the season just closing, furnishes good eviflence on 

 this point: 



"Lettuce from State points has been in free receipt and much 

 has been sold for less than charges. Fancy headed stocks is worth 

 fifty to seventy-five cents per basket, but average grades are ne- 

 glected at ten to twenty-five cents per package." 



The time of over supply is just the time when grading counts. 

 The grower has established his trade on a basis of quality, and by 

 maintaining that basis, he is able to hold on while the other fellow 

 drops out. Moreover, Mr. Grader still holds the trade when the 

 market picks up. 



It is by no means easy to maintain a standard of grading. One 

 naturally desires a maximum of primes and a minimum of seconds, 

 and he even unconsciously tends downward. With hired help the 

 problem is much more difficult. The first essential is to form a 

 mental image of the standard for each grade, working it out care- 

 fully and making it neither too high nor too low. Fix these stand- 

 ards as far as possible by the use of sizing boards and the like. 

 Constant and rigid inspection is then necessary. If a large quan- 

 tity is handled, each worker should have a number to be placed in 

 each basket. Thus responsiblity is fixed. Just here is one of the 

 greatest advantages of machine-grading. A machine is freer from 

 the failings of human nature. 



The problem of packing cannot be separated from the problem 

 of grading. The requirements are two. The first is that the pack- 



