APPLES 



331 



box in the East is increasing. Expert 

 packers from tlie Nortliwest are be- 

 ing employed by various organizations of 

 the East to teach the growers the science 

 and art of apple packing, and information 

 on the subject is being disseminated by 

 the agricultural colleges. Prof. E. W. 

 Bailey goes so far as to say, "The trend 

 of the times in all commodities is toward 

 the smaller type of package, and the box 

 package will doubtless sometime supplant 

 the barrel." It is generally conceded in 

 the East, however, that at the present 

 only the best grades of apples will pay 

 there in boxes, and by some it is believed 

 that only then is the use of the boxes 

 feasible under the direction of a co-opera- 

 tive association, with its trained manager 

 and crew of expert packers. 



There are some who believe that the 

 growers of the Northwest will, with the 

 increasing output of the section, be forced 

 to the use of the barrel for the cheaper va- 

 rieties and grades. This, it is believed, 

 will come about, first, because of a short- 

 age of labor. It requires less time to pack 

 apples in barrels than in boxes, using the 

 Northwest methods. Second, because of 

 a necessity of reducing the packing ex- 

 pense, in order to market the fruit with 

 a profit, with the decline in price which 

 these persons expect, somewhat in pro- 

 portion to the increase in volume of out- 

 put. 



Problem of Labor 



As to the first point, that of the coming 

 scarcity of labor, it is in reality one of 

 the serious problems now before the fruit 

 growers of the Northwest. But little 

 thought has been given to its solution, 

 and no steps taken toward future relief. 

 A few possible methods are here out- 

 lined, although no one method will prob- 

 ably be sufficient by itself. Transient 

 labor at its best is inexpert and irrespon- 

 sible, and at that is far from being plenti^ 

 ful. If it must be employed, however, it 

 can be placed under foremen, provided the 

 latter are available; and the supply can be 

 increased by advertising and by conces- 

 sions in transportation charges. An 

 available resident population outside the 

 fruit industry that would be sufficient 

 to care for the crop during a short space 



of time means a load upon the community 

 during the remainder of the year, unless 

 other industries are established that will 

 absorb it after the harvest season and 

 that can afford to run short or shut down 

 during the fruit rush; while at the same 

 time under this system the fruit industry 

 will not receive the benefit of any great 

 efficiency in its workers, which can come 

 only from practice. However, this system 

 is better than none — in fact, such a sys- 

 tem is already practiced to some extent. 

 It may pay to foster seriously these other 

 accommodating industries. 



The most satisfactory solution is one 

 that will enable a large part of the work 

 to be done by responsible and expert help. 

 It is encouraging that at least three meth- 

 ods can be suggested to accomplish this 

 end. One is a reduction in the size of 

 large orchard holdings, thus placing a 

 larger population in the industry itself. 

 This is of course impossible without main- 

 taining a certain amount of profit in the 

 production. Another is the employment 

 of all possible machinery to take the 

 place of hand labor, and to set a pace for 

 the workers. There is no work at which 

 a man can waste more time than that of 

 grading entirely by hand. If he has a siz- 

 ing machine to feed at the same time that 

 he is grading for quality, his eye and fin- 

 gers may develop twice their usual speed. 

 A third, and perhaps the most satisfactory 

 method, will be to prolong the packing 

 season. The Northwest apple growers are 

 fortunate in at least three respects: the 

 plantings of apples have been mostly of 

 late-keeping sorts; the successful cold 

 storage of apples is an established fact; 

 nature covers the apples in this section 

 with an unusually heavy coating of wax, 

 which makes it possible for them to be 

 stored in many localities without refrig- 

 eration. Elsewhere in this work is urged 

 the necessity of picking at the proper 

 time and of rushing the apples into some 

 proper sort of storage, if their keeping 

 qualities are not to be impaired. This 

 method would seem, then, to lie in send- 

 ing all help possible into the orchards in 

 order to pick at the proper time; to store 

 loose; and then to pack up as ordered, or 

 at leisure. Briefly stated, store at home 



