96 The Fruit-Growers Guide-Book 



The fruit as it is brought from the field in lug-boxes is 

 carefully emptied out on the tables and sorted into the 

 various sizes or grades to be packed. Each size is deter- 

 mined by the diameter of the apple from cheek to cheek. 

 For the smallest size packed the diameter is 2 { / 2 inches. In 

 some sections- it is the custom to have sorters or graders 

 who have that particular bit of the work to do, and in 

 other sections the packers must sort their fruit as they 

 pack. In other sections again the graders must wipe the 

 dust and spray from each fruit as it is passed to the pack- 

 ers. Cotton flannel mitts, with the fleecy side turned out, 

 makes the most satisfactory material. The apples are 

 given a twist between the gloves, just enough to remove 

 any spray that may be sticking to the fruit, but not hard 

 enough to polish. Polishing is detrimental, as it reduces 

 the keeping qualities. 



Grading machines for sizing apples have, up to the 

 present time, not been altogether satisfactory, as they 

 bruised the apples to such an extent as to make them unfit 

 for packing under the Western standard. A machine built 

 on altogether new principles has recently been patented by 

 Mr. James M. Hamilton, of Grand Junction, Colo., and 

 gives promise of proving very satisfactory. This machine 

 is described in The Fruit-Grower of December, 1910, from 

 which the following quotation is taken: 



Hamilton Grading Machine 



"No packer, no matter how expert he may be, can put up 

 a first-class pack from ungraded fruit. Some growers 

 object to the grading of fruit, believing the packers should 

 be able to grade as they pack, but when a packer is putting 

 up forty or more boxes .of apples a day, the fruit is being 

 handled so rapidly that small defects, such as punctures in 

 the skin, will be passed unnoticed and result in defective 

 packing. Grading ahead of the packers makes it possible, 

 for the packers to work more rapidly, as by having the 

 fruit sized, they do not have to "paw" over the fruit on 

 the table in order to get the size needed to fill the box. 



