P.D. 123. 17 



ducing sections this year, but the lack of transportation facilities has been a 

 limiting factor. 



A very large percentage of the Franklin County apple crop has been graded 

 " Massachusetts standard A ", " Massachusetts standard B ", and the " Federal 

 standard grade ". The percentage of barrels shipped as " ungraded " is the 

 smallest that it has been in any year since standard grades for apples were 

 established. Grading has been very satisfactory. There have been consider- 

 ably fewer violations of the Grading Law, both of a major and a minor nature, 

 reported to date. 



Oniok Grading. 



Shipping point inspection service for onions has been made available again 

 this year. A cooperative agreement with the U. S. Department of Agriculture 

 has been entered into in order that the certificates issiied may be recognized in 

 national markets. The grades used are the U. S. grades for northern grown 

 onions. The details of the service are similar to those under which it was oper- 

 ated a year ago. 



A corps of four inspectors have been trained for the work by a competent 

 supervisor, employed by the U. S. Bureau of Agricultural Economics. One of 

 these inspectors is a resident of the Valley and is available for inspection work 

 whenever application is made. This service was established by the growers 

 and men interested in marketing onions for the purpose of improving the 

 quality of onions shipped from this section. The service establishes a standard 

 basis for intelligent dealing, enabling onion receivers to deal direct with growers, 

 thus reducing distribution costs, inasmuch as a certification service gives onions 

 of the same quality a uniform standard. The receiver is thus placed in a posi- 

 tion to know the quality of goods he shall have for resale. Sales made on grade 

 facilitate trade, prevent waste by shipping unmarketable products, and save 

 expense of sorting at market centers. Furthermore, the establishment of grades 

 and the accompanying service enlarge the marketing possibilities of the product. 



Such a service establishes a basis of adjustment with transportation companies 

 or others in ease of damage from frosts, heat or other cause or in ease of re- 

 jection by the receiver. The receiver is enabled to obtain the quality of goods 

 he desires, thus reducing expensive readjustment at market centers. 



Tobacco Grading. 



Funds appropriated by the Legislature in 1922 enable the Division of Mar- 

 kets to assist in investigating present grading and marketing practices among 

 growers of leaf tobacco with a view to recommending a system of grading 

 whereby the tobacco-gromng industry of the Commonwealth would be benefited 

 through the adoption of more economic and scientific methods. 



The work has been completed this year by the U. S. Bureau of Agricultural 

 Economics in cooperation with the Connecticut Valley Tobacco Association. 

 The grades which were worked out have been unanimously adopted by the 

 directors of the Connecticut Valley Tobacco Association, and will be put into 

 eifect for the 1923 crop for the Havana Seed and Broadleaf types. The grades 

 have been published in a booklet circulated by the Connecticut Valley Tobacco 

 Association. 



These grades were prepared by the tobacco standardization section of the 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture on August 27, 1923, as tentative grades for 

 Connecticut Broadleaf tobacco. A representative sample of each grade will 

 be preserved in the tobacco standardization laboratory, Washington, D. C. 

 No ch'anges are to be made in these grades without the approval of the U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture. 



Tobacco is graded under the standard system according to the quality, color 

 and length. The quality factor is divided into groups of similar quality in 

 order to simplify the grading. 



