THE APPLE 61 



of Fitchburg, who uses a bushel box with a corner piece 

 nailed on each corner, as shown in Figure 36. This 

 piece is seven-eighths of an inch thick 

 and allows the air to circulate over the 

 fruit enough to carry off 

 the surplus moisture and 

 yet not enough to cause it 

 to wilt. The boxes of fruit 

 are placed in the cold stor- 



Fly. 36 Conven- a ge room or cellar in piles, Pig. 37 Boxes in 

 lent Bushel Box as s hown in Figure 37, and StOMB " 



not disturbed until it is to be sorted for market. Any 

 kind of a box might be used, but the common bushel 

 market box is very convenient to handle, it packs to 

 good advantage and is cheap. 



ASSORTING APPLES 



A great deal of skill is required to sort apples so 

 that they will give the most satisfaction to the buyer 

 and the best returns to the grower. In connection with 

 many large orchards, or in large apple growing sections, 

 large cold storage buildings are constructed with can- 

 ning and evaporating appliances, so that all the No. 2's 

 and those often called "cider" apples are worked off 

 and only No. 1 fruit is put into barrels. In sorting 

 fruit, where there is no evaporating or canning plant, 

 the fruit is divided in two grades, No. 1 and No. 2 for 

 packing, and cider apples that are generally sold in bulk. 

 The standard for grading varies very much with differ- 

 ent individuals and with different localities, but few 

 packers put up their fruit so as to get the best results. 

 The standard of No. 1 and No. 2 fruit also varies greatly. 

 It does not matter so much as to the size of the fruit 

 as to its perfectness and even grade, yet the larger the 

 fruit, other things being equal, the better will be the 

 price at which it will sell. If we could grade our apples 



