3^4 



The Canadian Horticulturist. 



HOW TO PACK FIRST-CLASS APPLES. 



•,jjy ILL you please give a description of the best plan of an 

 improved fruit-packing house and stationary barrel press 

 to use in it, and any other utensils for filling baskets, 

 kegs, barrels, crates, etc. ? I have a large orchard in 

 Canada, and wish to have the very best conveniences for 

 putting up the fruits in the best possible way to sell for 

 the highest prices, whether the markets are glutted or 

 not. — F. W. W., Chatham, Canada. 

 Ans. — I would build a packing house somewhat after the general plan 

 used by the orange growers of Florida. Either by building on a hillside or 

 slope, or by bridging or grading, I would arrange to unload the fruit in the 

 second story of the building. I would empty it into a shallow, padded- 

 bottomed, fan-shaped hopper, slanting downward into the first story, and 

 inclined just enough to allow the fruit to roll along, and not pile up as it run 

 into a sizer or grader, one end of which adjoins the lower and narrow end of 

 the hopper. I would build the hopper ten or twelve feet wide at the top, 

 converging to about one foot at the lower end, and fifteen or twenty feet long, 

 large enough to hold a wagon load of fruit. 



The sizer consists of two inclined, nearly parallel strips of wood, diverging 

 somewhat. It allows the smallest fruit to drop through first, the intermediate 

 sizes next, and the largest fruit roll off at the end. One can make any number 

 of grades or sizes desired. Oranges are usually graded to seven sizes — three or 

 four would be sufficient for apples. A man standing where the hopper joins 

 the sizer, can sort out all imperfect fruit as it rolls along. Shallow bins under- 

 neath the sizer, also inclined sideways from the sizer, will convey the fruit 

 directly into the crates, baskets or barrels, thus taking advantage of the attract- 

 ing of gravitation, avoiding all lifting and carrying. 



Carefully pad all places where there is a fall of more than a few inches, 

 with sheepskin, cotton or wool. A long, low, narrow truck with iron axles and 

 wheels, as wide as a barrel and long as the sizer, could hold the barrels while 

 they are being filled, and then be easily and quickly placed under the station- 

 ary press. They may then be drawn to the storage room or car, headed, nailed 

 and stenciled, without removing them from the truck, while another truckload of 

 barrels is being filled. Have the floor of house level with the wagon box, or car 

 floor, if the packing house adjoins the railroad, for convenience in loading. 



I have never seen a stationary press for apples, but I think I could contrive 

 one. It would be a modification of the lever press, worked with the foot, now 

 in general use in this section. The screw press takes too long to operate. 



If Mr. W. wishes to put his fruit up in extra fancy packages, so as to " sell 

 highest and sell anyway, whether the market is glutted or not," let him add to 



