Packing and Grading the Fruit 273 



localities will be following their example. Their apples 

 are packed as carefully as most growers pack their peaches 

 or pears, or as carefully as California growers pack their 

 oranges, and the returns justify, them for the extra labor 

 and expense. The association schools its packers and 

 holds them responsible for faults in their own packing. 

 While the printed instructions state that the packers are 

 paid by the piece, this plan has been abandoned and the 

 packers are now paid by the day. Provided such a 

 system can be worked on a large scale, this is no doubt the 

 best method of handling packers that has yet been de- 

 vised. 



Packing Appliances 



It is hardly necessary to mention the desirability of 

 having convenient packing equipment on the fruit-farm. 

 Most growers are provided with packing houses, but 

 many of these buildings are poorly lighted. In planning 

 the packing house, this point should be given special 

 attention as the packers must have good light properly to 

 grade the fruit. 



Packing out of doors is often hard on the packers and 

 hard on the fruit, especially in the warm days of early 

 fall. Figure 70 shows a force of packers moved outside 

 because the well-equipped packing house proved too small 

 for the force of packers necessary to handle a large crop 

 from a 200-acre orchard. 



Owners of large orchards sometimes supply themselves 

 with a large tent in which to do the packing. It is sur- 

 prising how cool a tent will keep the fruit, and the light 

 is almost perfect. The grower should at least provide 

 some place where the fruit may be stored in the shade as 



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