GRADING AND PACKING 6l 



II. WHAT IS FIRST-GRADE FRUIT? 



Occasionally some one gets up an argument over 

 what should constitute a first-grade apple, peach, or 

 pear ; and from time to time some well-meaning com- 

 mittee of some horticultural society seeks to define 

 specimens of the first, second, and third grade. In 

 the market sense, however, such a thing as a first-grade 

 apple or peach does not exist. The simple reason is 

 that no marketman buys a single apple or peach. In 

 the fruit market fruit is handled only in the original 

 packages. First-grade apples means a package of 

 apples of the first quality ; but a single apple which 

 would be properly placed in one package of first-class 

 apples might be below standard in another package of 

 first-class apples. It would be possible to take two 

 packages of first-grade apples, and simply by mixing 

 them to make two packages of second-grade apples. 

 In the same way it is possible, by careful grading, 

 sometimes to make two barrels of first-grade apples 

 out of two barrels of seconds. I am assured that 

 many commission men make good profits out of the 

 careless customers by doing just such things as 

 these. 



In other words, the terms "select," " first grade," 

 " second grade," etc., are entirely relative. They do 

 not refer to any absolute qualities of size, form, or 

 color. The National Apple Shippers' Association, 

 however, has adopted a definition for the different 

 grades.* Even this definition, it will be seen, is largely 



* The rules for the grading of apples, as adopted by the National Apple 



Shippers' Association in a resolution passed August 3, 1900, are as follows: 



" The standard for size for No. 1 apples shall not be less than 2j^ inches 



