300 The Commercial Apple Industry 



sorters stand beside the conveyer and grade out the fruit 

 as it passes them. More improved sizers permit the grad- 

 ing and sizing of two and even three grades simultaneously. 

 The sorting is accomplished by dividing the grading belt 

 lengthwise with strips which serve as partitions to separate 

 the different grades. A separate set of bins is then re- 

 quired for each grade. 



The machines now most commonly used throughout 

 the East size but a single grade, the fruit being sorted ac- 

 cording to one of the following two practices: (a) Only 

 culls and rots are removed, the remainder being allowed 

 to go into a single grade, in which case the smaller sizes 

 are packed out as No. 2's and the larger sizes, usually 

 from 2~y 2 inches up, are called No. 1 ; or (b) not only are 

 culls removed but also a second grade based on quality, 

 the latter being diverted into a single bin without sizing. 

 The first grade then proceeds along the conveyer belt to 

 the sizing mechanism, the apples being delivered in bins 

 according to their respective sizes. 



The growing tendency in the largest barreled apple dis- 

 tricts where careful grading is practiced, is to size the 

 first grade 'to quarter inch sizes. This makes a more at- 

 tractive pack than one in which all sizes above a stated 

 minimum are packed into the same barrel. In addition 

 to the advantage of increased attractiveness of pack, the 

 more exact sizing makes possible the handling of the fruit 

 through more bins, and in this way eliminates congestion 

 in any one bin. However, unless the volume of fruit 

 handled is great enough to keep several packers busy when 

 the apples are distributed among three or four bins, it is 

 not advisable to attempt such exact sizing. 



In any of the above practices, the fruit is taken out of 



