September, 1915. 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



207 



Packing Fruit for Long-Distance Shipment 



R. M. Winslow, Provincial Horticulturist, Victoria, B.C. 



IN the general development of the 

 fruit-growing industry of the Pa- 

 cific Coast, one of the main, if not 

 the main characteristic, has been the 

 evolution of successful long-distance 

 shipping. There is on the Pacific 

 Coast itself a comparatively large de- 

 mand for fruit. Nevertheless, Pacific 

 Coast fruit-growing is based on the 

 markets of the middle west, those of 

 the United States, and on the markels 

 in the large Eastern centres for the 

 highest grade fruit. In evolving this 

 long-distance trade, a number of essen- 

 tial principles seem to be firmly estab- 

 lished. 



First of all, the fruit itself must be 

 well selected. In the soft fruits especi- 

 ally, a prime requirement is size. A 

 second requirement, often placed as 

 the most important, is high color. 

 Given even a moderate attainment in 

 size and color, the fruit must certainly 

 be firm and in such condition as to hold 

 up under refrigeration. To meet 

 these requirements, the fruit must 

 practically be perfect in respect to 

 blemishes, form, color and size. Long- 

 distance shipping requires also most 

 timely picking. Much has been done to 

 put in writing just when fruit should 

 be picked; the proper state of ma- 

 turity is, hoAvever, a matter much 



more of experience than of precept. 

 It is a curious fact that in the judging 

 of condition and the ability of fruit 

 to hold up, the average wholesaler is a 

 much keener and more accurate judge 

 than the average fruit-grower. Every 

 jobber in, say, a Prairie city, becomes 

 expert in estimating the commercial 

 "life" of the fruit he receives to an 

 extent not at all appreciated by the 

 growers. In the west, however, the 

 growers are steadily learning mucli 

 about the "life" of fruit. It is not 

 necessarily the ripest fruit that decays 

 most rapidly ; it is not the best-colored 

 fruit that keeps best or looks best on 

 the market. 



The handling of fruit for long- 

 distance should be most careful; in 

 addition, there should be a minimum 

 amount of handling, because even 

 most careful handling means slight 

 bruises or abrasions. On the other 

 hand, grading requires a second hand- 

 ling; the picker cannot pick, grade, 

 and pack. In British Columbia there 

 has been a tendency, however, to too 

 much handling. The custom of pack- 

 ing apples from tables is gradually 

 giving Avay to packing direct from the 

 orchard boxes, as is the practice with 

 soft fruits, the mechanical graders now- 

 being largely adopted in Washington 



All Hands at Work in the Orchard of Mr. D. C. Galbralth, Huron County, Ont. 

 In this ten-acre orchard the principal varieties of fruit grown are Northern Spy, Golden Russett 

 and Twenty Ounce Pippin, as well as a tew earlier varieties, such as Duchess, Alexander and 

 Cayugra lied Streak. The orchard has been in .fod for four year.s, the grass being cut and left 

 as a mulch, previous to which it was cultivated and a cover crop of rape u.sed, which was turned 

 under in June. Better colored fruit has been obtained since the sod method has been followed. 



furnishing an exception to this rule. 



The mechanical grader has come to 

 stay, the improvements brought in in 

 1914 and 1915 having assured its suc- 

 cess. The most up-to-date graders will 

 handle peaches as well as apples, and 

 do it without any discoverable bruis- 

 ing. It is a common demonstration 

 with the new graders to use eggs. 

 The mechanical grader has, however, 

 a number of disadvantages. After all, 

 it grades only to size or weight, and 

 the grading for color, blemishes and 

 grade must still be done by hand ; the 

 cost is high, and either gasoline or elec- 

 tric power is required. The graders, 

 further, are not practical with less 

 than 300, and preferably 600, boxes of 

 apples a day. Also, there is a great 

 loss of time in co-operative warehouses 

 in handling small lots, even of the same 

 variety. 



On the other haAd, the new mechani- 

 cal graders have definite advantages. 

 They are very accurate as to sizes; the 

 presence of the machine enables speed- 

 mg up of all the operations, given one 

 good man at the head of the machine. 

 With a good machine and three or four 

 experienced graders, it is possible to 

 pack 600 boxes of apples a day with 

 six or seven inexperienced packers, 

 and still put out a very high grade. 

 The mechanical grader, to a very large 

 extent in Washington, has freed the 

 fruit sections from the domination of 

 the expert packer, and has made avail- 

 able a large supply of packers who, 

 under old grading methods, would not 

 put up a uniform high grade pack. 

 Under favorable conditions, the grader 

 saves two cents to three cents a box 

 over the old methods of operation. 



The newness of the apple industry 

 in British Columbia naturally results 

 in small lots of the variety from each 

 orchard: this has been the principal 

 obstacle to the adoption of the grader 

 so far in this province. A further rea- 

 son is that the Canadian Prairies do 

 not demand the greatest uniformity in 

 pack. 



Rigid Packages Used. 



Packages for long-distance shipping 

 are characteristic. The west has 

 evolved the square, rigid package, 

 contrasting with the packages of the 

 cast, most of which lack rigidity or 

 show curves or taper. There are prac- 

 tically no tapering packages used in 

 (he west, and practically no flexible 

 packages, such as the "Climax" bas- 

 ket or the peach basket of New York 

 State. These rigid, square packages 

 are the result of two causes : First, the 

 abundance of suitable sawn lumber in 

 the west; but, more important, the 

 necessities of long-distance shipping. 



The great objection to any package 

 of a tapering shape is that in the pack- 

 ing and the later settling of the fruit 



