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Will Mcintosh Be Harvested Mechanically? 



Whether or not mechanical harvesting of Mcintosh will ever become 

 a reality is not ]<nown. Growers have planted semi-dwarf and dwarf 

 trees so that they will make a solid hedge row. Whether or not these 

 trees can or will be hearvested mechanically is also a question. What 

 the writer is quite certain of however is that an increasing number 

 of growers are going to invite the public to "pick your own" fruit. 

 It is a natural, for orchards located near centers of population. 



Until mechanical harvesting of Mcintosh apples becomes a reality 

 we must continue to strive for efficiency by making use of those aids 

 for handpickers that fit our operations: self-propelled lifts, plat- 

 forms, pick and drop equipment, pallets, bulk boxes, lift equipment, etc. 



Modifying Trees to Facilitate Harvest Efficiency 



Dr. Howard Rollins, Jr. at V. P. I. Blacksburg, Virginia, suggests, 

 "If we cannot develop machinery to reduce labor i^equirements with con- 

 ventional trees, we may be able to modify the tree to facilitate greater 

 harvest efficiency. If a high density hedge row planting could be 

 established with trees planted about six feet apart, in a row and trained 

 to provide a "wall" of trees 5 feet thick and 10 to 14 feet high, har- 

 vest labor efficiency could be increased. Men riding at two levels on 

 a low trailer moving slowly down the tree row could reach the center 

 of such trees. They could pick either on to a conveyor or into conven- 

 tional picking bags and consequently dump the fruit into a bulk bin 

 also on the low trailer. With such a system, additional equipment costs 

 would not likely exceed equipment savings. For example, no ladders 

 and less bulk bin placement would be necessary. 



With such a high density hedge row production system, a picker 

 could harvest significatly more fruit during a given period of time, 

 than is true in conventional plantings. In conventional orchards a good 

 picker can harvest 100 bushels of apples a day and by receiving 15<;^ a 

 bushel, he receives a day's pay of $15. On the other hand, if he were 

 able to pick 200 bushels of apples during the same period of time, still 

 at the ISt;: per bushel rate, his day's wages would be doubled without 

 increasing the per bushel cost to the grower. With such a pay incentive 

 harvest help may become available that is not presently available. 

 Energetic workers with full time employment elsewhere might wish to put 

 in a week or two picking apples in lieu of a vacation or local workers 

 may be willing to put in 6-8 hours additional work late in the after- 

 noon and during the early evening hours to earn a little extra pay. 

 Night harvesting could be effectively carried on through the use of 

 flood lights in such hedge row plantings. It is also possible that 

 since the work would be lightened, women could be more effectively used 

 in the apple harvest operation. 



Another factor to be kept in mind is that high density hedge row 

 plantings would bo better adapted to ultimate complete mechanization 

 of the apple harvest operation. If fruit removal equipment is developed. 



