10 BULLETIN 861, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



some varieties, small unripened berries are found at picking time, 

 and sometimes some of the berries in a bunch, especially those at 

 the shoulder, are so tender as to crack or shell at picking. 



FIELD OR PACKING-HOUSE TRIMMING. 



Trimming may be done as the grapes are picked, in which case 

 they are packed directly into the final container, or the grapes may 

 be hauled to the packing house in trays and there trimmed and 

 packed. The advantage of packing in the field is one of convenience, 

 for the resultant pack is usually one of relatively low quality, as 

 many defective berries are overlooked; also short measure is likely 

 to occur in field packing. The principal cause is the shrinkage of the 

 fruit after leaving the vine. The disadvantages of trimming and 

 filling in the packing house are the added expense and the mechani- 

 cal injury often caused by the additional handling, which may be 

 minimized, however, by careful methods. It is generally believed 

 that the resultant pack is usually of a higher quality than if done in 

 the vineyard. The careful trimming made necessary by any serious 

 damage, either by insects or disease, can best be done in the packing 

 house. Many grapes from the Central Lakes and the Hudson River 

 Valley districts of New York receive this extra attention, but in the 

 Chautauqua-Erie belt insect and fungus injury are so light that a 

 very good quality can be packed in the field by a moderately careful 

 picker. 



Central packing houses have been operated in a few instances, but 

 without great success, due to various factors, such as extreme perish- 

 ability of the product, the difficulty of securing sufficient skilled 

 labor, and the high overhead cost of a packing plant for the short 

 period of use. 



GRADES. 



No standard grades of grapes, as such, have been adopted, but 

 certain cooperative associations and individual shippers have estab- 

 lished reputations for high quality and good pack and receive a 

 premium for their stock, which is marked by attractive labels pasted 

 on the cover of the baskets in which their grapes are shipped. Two 

 and 4 quart baskets may be labeled or branded in this manner, but 

 12-quart baskets not so conveniently. Branded stock receives a 

 premium of from 1 to 4 cents over unbranded, generally about 1 to 

 l-£ cents on 2-quart baskets and 2 to 2J cents on 4-quart baskets. 



CONTAINERS. 



Wooden veneer baskets, of the Climax type, have oeen adopted as 

 the standard package for table stock, in 2, 4 and 12 quart sizes, 

 dimensions prescribed by Federal statute in 1916. Before this law 



