136 THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



perfect fruit. We wait until the drop is over, and then go 

 through carefully again. 



A Member : Do you use any artificial means to bring 

 about color ? 



Mr. Castner : We use some potash. On some parts of 

 O'ur soil out there you need a little potash, but there are other 

 parts of the valley where it does not need it at all. 



A Member : What is the cost of handling the crop, that 

 is, after the picking? 



Mr. Castner : We have a regular schedule. Five cents 

 for sorting and five for packing. 



A Member : That means the same man does the same 

 work ? 



Mr. Castner : That is in the majority of cases. One 

 object in packing is to avoid the necessity of handling over, 

 but v/hen they do it in the apple orchard they put the differ- 

 ent grades in the boxes. Every handling over of them saves 

 another handling in the apple house, and every time you han- 

 dle the apples over you lose. B}' grading in the orchard you 

 save an extra handling. 



A Member : I would like to ask what the trouble is with 

 the fruit that goes to New York. When the apples are 

 packed like that don't you have a good many bruised ones in 

 the package? 



Mr. Castner : I don't know as we get so many bruised 

 apples. Are you sure they are from Hood River. I myself, 

 opened a number of boxes and we failed to find any poor 

 apples, OT bruised apples. The conditions were good. They 

 are packed and shipped by experts. The apples are packed 

 and loaded in a car, and they do not receive any rough han- 

 dling until they get here. They are handled just like eggs. 



A A^Iember : What is the difference between the fancy 

 grade and the extra fancy grade? 



AIr. Castner : Well, the extra fancy grade of apples 

 is what you might call show apples. The fancy grade will 

 take an apple that has some little speck on it, and perhaps a 

 worm-kile that it not too large. A choice apple is a good ap- 



