-2- 



buyers were mostly speculators. This may not have been the best way to sell 

 apples but the grower always knew what he was receiving for his crop. Sometimes 

 the buyers lost on the deal but there always seemed to be enough buyers around 

 to gamble on the next crop even if the previous year had been one in which they 

 lost heavily. 



The shift from the barrel to the box as a container for apples and the 

 demand for a better graded pack made it impractical to pack in the orchards. As 

 a result barns were converted to packing houses, equipment was developed for sort- 

 ing and sizing the fruits and the grading and packing operation was moved indoors. 



During the late 1930 's and in the 40 's elaborate sorting and sizing 

 equipment was developed but the Mcintosh apple was so easily bruised that this 

 equipment was not satisfactory and much of it has been discarded. Hand packing 

 directly out of the picking box is still the preferred method for grading and 

 packing Mcintosh apples. In other words there has been little progress here in 

 the East in the handling of apples in the packing house in the past 30 years. 

 There is no doubt that suitable sizing and grading equipment can be developed 

 to handle Mcintosh and a project for the development of such equipment by the 

 experiment stations in New England or by private organizations should be encour- 

 aged by the growers and by the several Horticultural Societies in New England. 



The Souhegan Apple Packing z\ssociation, the first and only cooperative 

 apple packing house and cold storage in New Hampshire was organized and built 

 in 1924. This cooperative organization operated for ten years. The organization 

 had its own brand and packed under the Uoc-a-way Probile, Top-Notch and Meda 

 labels. They also purchased fertilizers and spray materials for their members. 

 The cooperative is still active but acts as a promotional and marketing organ- 

 ization. 



Today apples are sold direct to retail stores, through commission 

 merchants and through distributors. There is considerable interest in the organ- 

 ization of a cooperative marketing organization, through which a volume of un- 

 iformly graded apples could be offered and in that way attract buyers and pro- 

 vide an opportunity to bargain with experienced buyers representing the large 

 chain stores. 



Apple Storage 



The heavy planting of Mcintosh soon increased the volume of this variety 

 to be marketed. Mcintosh did not keep well in common storage and had a short 

 marketing period under the conditions that existed at that time. Some work in 

 1929 to 1933 on Mcintosh held in refrigerated storage at 30 to 32° F showed 

 that this variety would remain in a good marketable condition for six to eight 

 months. There were only three refrigerated on-the-farm storages in New Hampshire 

 in 1927. One at the Applecrest Orchard in Hampton Falls, one at Uoodmont Orchards 

 in Derry and the other at the Cooperative Packing Plant in VJilton. For a number 

 of years large commercial refrigerated storages in cities stored apples for 



