-2- 



In most instances the poor colored apples vrere found in packages that were 

 supposed to be fancy or above, This could have happened only in one place and 

 that iTas the packing house. 



Bruises account for the greatest quantity of lavi grade fruit. In the packing 

 house survey 3ht7% of all apples Hxamined had one or more bruises l/2" or over. 

 Bruises less than l/2" in diameter vrere of relatively little importance and were 

 not counted in the packing house survey. Of all bruises 1/2" or over 8Up were in 

 the range l/2" - 3A% 13,35^ in the range 3A" - 1" and 2,7% ^vere 1" or over. 

 Several lots had less than six apples witli bruises l/2" or over while oti-iers had 

 as high as thirty-eight apples out of forty-eight with bruises l/2" or over. This 

 clearly demonstrates that even Mcintosh apples can be handled ivith a minimum of 

 bruising and that an excess of bruising can be attributed solely to careless handling. 



While in general, there appeared to be some advantage of hand grading over 

 machine grading relative to the amount of bruising yet some of the lots with the 

 least number of bruises were machine graded, ? This suggests that machines are not 

 necessarily at fault but it is how they are ^ed that makes the difference. 



In both the packing house and retail store surveys insect and disease blemishes, 

 poor shape and russet combined were less important as the cause of below fancy fruit 

 than either mechanical injury or lack of color. 



Possibly the most startling discovery from the packing house survey is the 

 relationship betvreen type of package and the incidence of bruising* This is shovm 

 in the follov/ing tabiej 



Type of Package Number of Samples Fancy & Ex, Fancy Below Fancy Bruised 



— - (percent; (percent) (percent) 

 Crate 33 69.0 31.0 32.3 

 Carton (cell pack) 21 76.7 23.3 36,3 

 Prepackage 1^ 68.1 31.9 35.8 

 Western box 1 66,7 33.3 5^,2 



These figures may be startling because of the general opinion that the crate 

 contributes materially to the bruising of apples. Except for the higher percentage 

 of fancy or above with a corresponding decrease in below fancy there seemed to be 

 relatively little difference whether the apples were packed in crate or were pre- 

 packaged with respect to grade or amovmt of bruising. The one lot packed in a 

 western box is only indicative of its effect on bruising because if more such packs 

 involving a greater number of packers could have been obtained the effect on bruis- 

 ing might have been reduced. 



The percent of bruised apples in each case represents the percent of all apples, 

 packed in the respective type of package, which had one or more bruises at least 

 1/2" in diameter. 



These figures indicate that the type of package in which the apples are placed 

 is of less importance relative to bruising then the way they are handled previously. 



It should be emphasized that these figures refer to the condition of the apples 

 as they leave the packing house and not what their condition might be after they 

 have passed thru the various market channels, 



