APPLE GROWING IN CALIFORNIA. 



99 



PACKING. 



\Vh;ii we might term the evolution of the apple pack has been very 

 ma rked in the past quarter century. We can all remember the time when 

 no attempt was made at grading, small apples and big apples being put 

 into the same package, usually the former on the bottom; indeed, some- 

 times no attempt was made to keep varieties separate and several kinds 

 were placed in the sack, box or barrel and sold together. The West, with 

 its cooperative marketing organizations, has undoubtedly done more 

 toward developing a uniform pack and establishing a fancy trade than 

 the rest of the United States. The East, until very recent years, has 

 insisted on putting apples in barrels and, while standardization of the 

 barivl pack could be accomplished as well as of the box pack, the East has 

 been slower in evolving along these lines, and has of recent years been 

 copvini: after the West, until now apples are often packed in boxes and 

 market inu agencies with their standardized packs are competing with 

 our western organizations. 



The boxes that are being used at the present time are variable in 

 size. California uses a box that is 9J by 11 by 22 inches; Oregon and 

 Colorado have boxes of the following dimensions, respectively: 10 by 



RBest 



Apples 



Kit*. 53. Yellow Bellflowers, illustrating 3, 4 and 4J tier packs. (Original) 



11 by 18 inches and 11^ by 11 J by 18 inches. A bill, designed to create 

 a standard size and pack, was introduced into the session of Congress 

 just closed by Judge J. S. Raker, but failed to pass. With California 

 using one sized box principally, Oregon another and Colorado still an- 

 other, it is found to be a difficult matter to agree on a standard, but as 

 standardization in the matter of packages for all fruits is becoming 

 necessary for uniformly good sales, the time will come, no doubt, when 

 the West will agree on a certain sized I MIX to be used and marked as 

 standard. 



In the Watsonville section of California, where a splendid pack on the 

 whole is made, there are three packs known as 3J, 4 and 4| tier, with the 

 4 tier as the standard, or average size, which is most desirable to the 

 trade in general. This size varies from 2-f inches as a minimum to 3J 

 inches as a maximum. The 3 tier size contains apples over 3J inches in 

 lia meter, and the 4.1 smaller apples than 2$. These rules are for their 

 standard varieties: Yellow Newtown and Yellow Bellflower. 



In the case of the 3| and 4 tier apples, the fruit is always wrapped by 

 the packers. This practice is one of tremendous value and should be 



