50 GARDEN PROJECT 
Preparing products for market. To sell garden 
‘products profitably one must know how to make them 
attractive to the purchaser. Products should be clean, 
of proper size, shape, and degree of ripeness. Those 
that are marketed in bunches, baskets or other con- 
tainers should be uniform in these respects. 
Usually there are two grades of products: fancy 
selected, and number one, besides culls. It should be 
borne in mind that number one is the lower grade. 
The fancy selected grade will be of proper size, color, 
degree of ripeness and free from blemishes. A ‘bunch 
or a basket will be uniform in these respects. Size 
should be characteristic of the variety. A beet the 
size of one’s head would not be graded as fancy se- 
lected. Color and shape are other characteristics 
which should be considered in connection with the dif- 
ferent varieties of products. The degree of ripencss 
at which the products are to be packed for market will 
depend upon the distance to market. Some products 
which are to be shipped some distance will be picked 
green. : 
In grading products it may be well to use a typical 
specimen as a sample and compare others with it. The 
following deseription* of the grades of tomatoes may 
serve to make this point of grading clear. Fancy sc- 
lected tomatoes are sound, smooth, regular in shape, 
free from cracks, and of such size that twelve speci- 
mens will fill one basket of a flat or a four basket crate. 
Number one grade is composed of sound specimens, 
slightly inferior to the fancy selected grade in size 
and smoothness, or with slight cracks about the stem 
which may have healed over so that there is no danger 
*Lloyd—Productive Vegetable Gardening. 
