APPLE GEADING AND PACKING. 



THE UNITED STATES STANDARD BARREL LAW, THE UNITED 

 STATES APPLE GRADING LAW AND THE MASSACHU- 

 SETTS APPLE GRADING LAW. 



Pkeparkd bt H. LINWOOD WHITE, First Clerk, ' 

 Under the direction of Wilfhid Whbeler, Secretary/, Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture, 



INTRODUCTION. 



Massachusetts' climate and soil are as well adapted to raising 

 apples as any to be found. Massachusetts growers are as 

 capable and as intelligent as any; they produce just as good 

 apples as are grown anywhere and, when flavor is considered, 

 better apples than are produced in the most famous apple- 

 growing regions. Massachusetts markets are unexcelled. 



With climate, soil, farmers, markets and product there re- 

 mains the most important operation, — that of marketing. 

 Hitherto the Massachusetts grower has suffered from compe- 

 tition with out-of-state producers who, through necessity of 

 self-preservation, have developed and adopted the most scien- 

 tific methods of culture, picking, grading, . packing and market- 

 ing. In Massachusetts, with markets so close at hand and with 

 a system of mixed farming in vogue, the need for improvement 

 in the practice of raising and marketing apples has not been so 

 pressing. It was only after the first New England fruit show 

 in 1909 that Massachusetts apple growers came to realize their 

 capabilities. The fruit shows held subsequently, together with 

 a propaganda of better methods in pruning, spraying and pack- 

 ing, have resulted in a veritable boom of the orchard industry, 

 but the fashion of growing more of something better will last 

 only so long as the grower is profitably rewarded for the 

 effort. 



