PREPARING THE FRUITS FOR MARKET 35 



All fruit that has to be wrapped and packed in boxes 

 needs to be graded much more carefully than fruit that 

 is shipped loose in packages; as, for example, apples 

 shipped in barrels. Most of the mechanical graders for 

 apples have appeared in the Central or Western states, 

 but within the past three or four years, some of them 

 have been tried out in the East. Many are still in the 

 experimental stage and while they are being used more 

 and more every year, it is still a question whether they 



Fig. 24. A GRADING MACHINE 

 This machine weighs and tosses the fruit to separate compartments. 



are just the best thing to use. I am of the opinion, how- 

 ever, that in a few years more they will be perfected 

 to such an extent that all large growers of apples will 

 use them. 



Irregular shaped fruit, like pears, or soft fruit, like 

 peaches and plums, are seldom graded by mechanical 

 means and it is not probable that such devices will ever 

 be made successful. Fruit like strawberries or cherries 

 which have long stems, do not lend themselves to me- 

 chanical appliances, hence they will probably always 

 have to be graded by hand. 



