COOPERATIVE PACKING BY GROWERS 



D. JOHNSON^ PRESIDENT FOREST FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION, FOREST, ONT. 



IN the early part of last season the Forest 

 Fruit Growers and Forwarding Asso- 

 ciation intended to have each member pack 

 his own fruit under inspection. If any 

 package was found not properly marked it 

 was to be rejected or marked according to 

 its proper value. The inexperience of 

 some, however, and the diverse grading 

 •caused the association to adopt the central 

 packing house. 



For this purpose a rink was rented and 

 to this each variety of apples was brought 

 as the fruit matured. It was gently packed 

 in barrels, with the head slipped on by hand, 

 and hauled either in racks with springs or 

 with some straw in the bottom of the rack. 

 Each man's apples were kept in a separate 

 row and the man's name and the variety of 

 the apples were written on the top with pen- 

 cil. The number of barrels of unpacked 

 apples was credited each grower on the 

 books. 



In packing, each man's apples of a cer- 

 tain variety were emptied on the packing 



table, where they were carefully graded by 

 girls. The XXX were put in a basket to 

 their right, the XX in a basket to their left, 

 and the culls in bags attached to the tables. 



Each man working in the packing house 

 had his special work to perform for which 

 he was responsible to the manager. It was 

 the duty of one man to properly face, nail 

 and cleat each barrel of fruit required. The 

 facing had to be a fair representation of 

 what was in the barrel. Each hoop had 

 four nails, each head six and each cleat six. 



THE HEAD PACKER'S DUTY. 



It was the duty of the head packer to 

 empty baskets, shake down the fruit in the 

 barrels and see that the grading was pro- 

 perly done and that each grower was cred- 

 ited with the full amount of packed fruit 

 of each variety and grade. The shaking 

 down was done by setting the barrel on a 

 plank. Another man was responsible for 

 the facing of the pressed end and for the 

 pressing in of the same. A third man had 

 charge of the stenciling and nailing in of the 



ShippinsT Fruit on a Niagara District Fruit Farm. 



Packers getting fruit ready for shipment at J. F. Brennan & Son's fruit farm, Grimsby, Ont., are shown. On the left is Mr, 



Brennan, wh j superintends the packing. He has adopted the California style of packing, and has been repaid by the proud distinc- 



on of landing the best packed Ontario fruit on the Winnipeg market of many large shipments. He has also won high awards at the 



ational and international exhibitions and has received orders from many parts of the United States and Canada for his celebrated 



Ashland Fruit." 



253 



