Handling the Crop 301 



its respective bin and placed in previously faced barrels. 

 An additional workman then nails and stamps the barrel 

 and places it in a position ready to be loaded on the cars 

 or hauled to the shipping station. 



Some desirable features for the packing-shed under east- 

 ern and middle western conditions may be summed up as 

 follows: (1) It is highly desirable that the packing- 

 shed should be convenient to a railroad loading station. 

 In the case of community packing-sheds, it is always es- 

 sential that a site be selected where the fruit may be 

 loaded immediately on cars. In such cases, the roof 

 should slope to the back to permit of later additions to 

 the building. (2) Storage space should be provided for 

 empty barrels. This may be done conveniently by pro- 

 viding a loft overhead with chutes for delivering the bar- 

 rels to the packing-table. (3) It is highly important that 

 attention be given to proper lighting. Light shafts over 

 the sorting-table may be necessary. It is impossible to 

 sort and grade fruit properly in darkened rooms. (4) It 

 is usually advisable that larger packing-sheds be equipped 

 with mechanical sizers. (5) Storage space should be pro- 

 vided for loose fruit so that the packing operation may 

 continue for a day or more without continued supply from 

 the orchard. There should be storage also for one or more 

 days' run of packed apples so that it will be unnecessary to 

 ship odd lots of fruit. (6) An important point in pack- 

 ing-house arrangement is to provide a conveyer or some 

 means for preventing the culls from accumulating around 

 the packing-table. (7) A receiving platform should be 

 built at a convenient height for unloading fruit from 

 wagons. When mechanical sizers are used, it is advisable 

 to have the receiving platform at the same elevation as 



