118 



use to have every apple tight in the box, and also how many 

 apples he will need to pack the box. 



There are three systems of packing in use, the straight, 

 die diagonal and the offset. The diagonal, however, is used 

 almost entirely. It is the hardest to pack, but it is by far 

 the most attractive and the most efficient. Apples in a square 

 pack generally become bruised in shipment, because each 

 apple is placed directly over the other. Apples may vary 

 more in size in diagonal packing than in square packing; 

 they also tend to bruise much less in this pack, because each 

 apple rests in the space between two or four others. The 

 offset pack presents more empty space to the critical pur- 

 chaser when he takes off the side of the box to look at the 

 apples; therefore it should be used only when necessary. 



The size of an apple is always considered as the greatest 

 distance from cheek to cheek, and not the distance from stem 

 end to blossom end. A well-packed box of apples should 

 always have a bulge of %. inch upon both top and bottom. 

 The top and bottom bulged in this way act as springs to hold 

 all the apples tightly. This bulge is most easily attained by 

 selecting apples with a little greater diameter for use in the 

 middle of each layer. As the box is packed this bulge will be 

 about 1^2 inches in the middle, but when the bottom is nailed 

 on, the top of the box will spring out, thus making both top 

 and bottom equal. (See Fig. 5 for illustration of bulge.) 

 Tlie pack should be but little in excess of the height of the box 

 at the ends. This generally comes all right because of the 

 size of the box and the kind of pack selected for the several 

 sizes of apples. Apples which have a diameter of 2% inches 

 make a five tier pack of either 188, 198, 200 or 225 ; 2% 

 inches in diameter make a four and a half tier pack of either 

 138, 150, 163 or 175; ^Vs inches in diameter make a four 

 tier pack of either 113 or 125; 3/i inches in diameter make 

 a three or two and a half tier pack of either 36, 48, 56, 64, 

 72 or 80. The number varies with the variety, caused by 

 their different shapes and thicknesses. The regular Standard 

 box is 10^/2 by ll^/o by 18 inches, and can be used for nearly 

 all of these packs. 



