STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 25 



a long time to cool them down in storage. Our growers are 

 coming to prefer the central packing house in the orchard. 



This is one of my teams hauling apples to the packing shed. 

 They are picked in half-bushel willow baskets and not shifted 

 until dumped upon the packing table. I prefer these baskets to 

 boxes because the less apples are handled the better. Moreover, 

 willow baskets can be tossed around without breaking; boxes 

 have to be handled carefully. The baskets are carried to the 

 packing shed o.n a wagon holding one hundred baskets, so I can 

 take seventeen barrels of apples to the packing shed each trip 

 if necessary. 



Sizing Machine. My packing shed for a forty-acre bearing 

 orchard is about fifty by thirty feet. The sizing machine is run 

 by the gasoline engine taken off the spray pump. I can say after 

 three years' trial, that I can put up apples cheaper and better in 

 the packing shed than running them over the table in the orchard. 

 I thought it would cost more, but I find that unless the haul to 

 the shed is over half a mile, I can put them up cheaper. The 

 men are more comfortable, and the machinery in motion keeps 

 them spurred up to their work. I get more work out of them 

 and they do it better. 



The next picture shows the machine that I have used for three 

 years — the Schellenger. It is expensive, costing $225, but I 

 think it does better work than any other. There are cheaper 

 machines on the market, however, which do good work. The 

 sizing is done without the slightest bruising. The advantage of 

 the sizing machine is that the packer does not have to think 

 about size at all ; he has only to think of color and blemishes. 

 That means he can do a much better job of grading. 



Apples of a size. Instead of packing apples 2 1-2 inches up, 

 we pack 2 1-2 inches to 3 inches, and 3 inches up. This gives a 

 much more attractive pack, and there is a gain in bulk as well. 

 Take a thousand barrels of apples packed 2 1-2 inches up and 

 divide them into several sizes, differing by a quarter of an inch, 

 and they will pack out 1,025 barrels, perhaps 1,050 barrels, since 

 there is more space between apples. From every point of view 

 that is all right ; we are giving the buyer a good deal and we get 

 more quantity. 



This shows the Hasdil sizer which is used considerably in 

 Virginia and costs about $125. I think it has not the capacity 



