THE 



Horticulturist 



IP/ iik: ij^ 



THE SALE OF OUR FRUITS. 



k 



HOW TO AVOID THE GLUT IN APPLES. 



S we have already stated in a previous 

 number, we anticipate a much bet- 

 ter apple season than that of 1896. 

 ijfjj-s.. No. 2 stock is yearly becoming less 

 and less salable, but so few have learned 

 the lesson that poor stuff should only be 

 offered by itself, and never mixed with good, 

 that it still helps to glut our markets. 

 Such mixed stock is bound to rule low, 

 both at home and abroad, and will be con- 

 stantly lower in value, until our growers 

 everywhere have awakened up to new ideas 

 on this subject of fruit packing. 



A few have awakened and have begun to 

 select and grade their fruit properly. They 

 pack them in three grades, 2}^, 2^ and 

 3 inch diameter respectively, each in sepa- 

 rate packages, so that a buyer a thousand 

 miles away can buy with perfect confidence 

 from the grade. 



The writer sold a carload in 1899 in this 

 way to a person in Leeds. This year the 

 order is doubled, at prices which will 

 warrant the extra care taken. Not only 



that, but inquiries have come to hand from 

 Newcastle, London and other points after 

 these same graded apples, wljich show how 

 rapidly the reputation is spreading abroad 

 of these graded packages. Our method is 

 as follows : We pack the ordinary grade 

 apples in the orchard. The foreman takes out 

 his packing table among the trees, and the 

 gang of pickers empty the fruit upon this 

 table, which is large enough to hold two 

 or three barrels at a time. (See frontispiece. ) 

 With the aid of two assistants, he is able to 

 sort the apples as fast as picked, and to pack 

 the ordinary- and No. 2 grade in barrels for 

 immediate sale in near markets, throwing out 

 the culls in heaps on the ground to wait until 

 the season is over and then be sold for evapor- 

 ating or for cider. While the packer is thus 

 engaged, the two assistants are busy select- 

 ing out all the perfect apples into boxes to be 

 sent into the packing house. Here the 

 high grade stock is carefully sized and 

 packed. First it is emptied upon the 

 Wartman grader and sized. No apple is 

 counted No. i which is below 2j4 inches in 

 diameter, while those 2^ inches or over 



