Fruitgrowers Guide-Book 

 Packers Each Handle One Size Apples 



"It will be noted there are three bins on each side of 

 the grader. On the 'Fancy' side the first bin contains only 

 perfect apples which are two inches and a half in diam- 

 eter and less than two and three-quarters; the next bin 

 contains perfect apples two and three-fourths inches in 

 diameter, and less than three inches; the last bin contains 

 perfect apples three inches or more in diameter. On the 

 'Choice' side the same is true, except that the apples are 

 one-fourth inch less in diameter, and of course they are off 

 color in some way, and therefore are of second grade. 



"The work of this machine is absolute so far as grading 

 the apples as to size is concerned; if the sorters at the head 

 of the machine have done their work well and have culled 

 out all defective fruit, packers can work from these bins 

 with their eyes shut. Of course the sorters will occasion- 

 ally make mistakes, and a bad apple will get by them. 

 There is this advantage, however, in this method of sort- 

 ing: Their work can be inspected in the bins before the 

 apples are packed, whereas under ordinary conditions, 

 where the packer does both grading and sorting, the fruit 

 can be inspected only after it is packed, and then it is fre- 

 quently too late to catch the bad ones. 



"The packers working for Mr. Hamilton have never 

 had any previous experience in packing apples in layers, 

 but they soon became so expert that they were packing 

 TOO boxes aday apiece, and the work was well done, too. 

 In fact the packers, with the aid of the machine, were so 

 speedy with their work they were working only every 

 other day to give the picking force opportunity to catch 

 up with them. Ordinarily packers are paid by the box, but 

 since perfecting his grading machine Mr. Hamilton pays 

 his packers by the day. The usual rate was 5 cents per 

 box; now the packers are paid $2 per day, and if they pack 

 100 boxes and they are doing that right along the cost 

 of packing was reduced to 2 cents per box, with an addi- 

 tional charge for the sorting. 



"Scores of experienced fruit men have seen the Hamil- 



