GRADING AND PACKING 131 



PACKING HOUSE. A portion of the barn may 

 be arranged for packing fruit, or a special shed or 

 packing house may be erected. Some growers do 

 their packing on tables placed in the shade in the 

 orchard. Padded tables with sloping tops and rim 

 sides, are very helpful aids to the sorting or grading 

 operation. Bndeavor to have the packing house or 

 place as cool as possible. 



GRADING APPI^S. Three grades are sufficient, or 

 rather, two grades and the cull-heap. I believe it best 

 to follow the standard of size as determined by the 

 National Apple -Shippers' Association, says Mr. H. 

 H. Hume, and their remarks on quality are quite in 

 place : The standard of size for No. 1 apples of large 

 varieties, such as York Imperial, Stayman, Rome 

 Beauty and Ben Davis, is set at not less than two and 

 one-half inches in diameter. The standard of size for 

 No. 1 apples of the smaller varieties, such as Winesap, 

 Jonathan and Bonum, is not less than two and one- 

 fourth inches. All No. 1 apples should be practically 

 free from worm-holes, bruises, breaks in the skin, and 

 be of good color, well-grown and hand-picked. 



No. 2 apples are those which are not less than two 

 and one-fourth inches in diameter. The fruit must be 

 free from bruises and breaks in the skin. The size of 

 No. 2 apples of the smaller sort has not been fixed, 

 but two-inch diameter apples might be included. 



The stems should be in all first-class apples, or in 

 at least eighty-five or ninety per cent, of them, and 

 the specimens in a lot of this kind should be uniform 

 in size, color and appearance. The fruit may be 

 graded as it is packed. Two barrels should be set 



