504 Twenty-First Biennial Report 



Most of the packing is done at the grower's own packing house, 

 although in a few sections there is a central packing house and all 

 of the fruit is hauled, to this in orchard boxes. Very rarely are 

 growers allowed to pack their own fruit. If a fruit grower is also a 

 packer he is usually sent to some other place to pack, for it is pretty 

 hard for a man to see the defects in his own fruit. 



The packers are employed by the association through which 

 the fruit is shipped. They are sent in crews of from four to six, 

 under a foreman, to the orchardist, where they are boarded and do 

 the packing. The owner is expected to furnish boxes, paper, packing 

 tables, etc., and to keep the tables supplied with fruit, and nail up 

 the boxes. The packers are held strictly responsible for the pack, 

 but the grower is responsible for the grading. The packer is 

 responsible to the association and not to the grower. The usual 

 compensation for this work is 5c a box and board, or an average of 

 from $2 to $3 a day and board. It is difScult to obtain enough 

 skilled packers to handle a normal crop. Most fruit sections now 

 annually hold packing schools just at the beginning of the harvesting 

 season. 



The boxes are lined with paper and have a cardboard on the 

 bottom and top and in the fancy and extra grades each apple is 

 wrapped separately. These wrappers often are printed with the 

 grower's name or the name of his ranch. The ends of the box bear 

 a lithograph giving the variety, name of the shipping association, and 

 name and address of the grower. There is also marked on the end 

 of the box the grade, the number of apples in the box, and the 

 riumber of the packer who did the packirg. Before being allov/ed 

 to pack for an association, each packer must register, and is given 

 a numbered rubber stamp with which he has to stamp each box 

 packed by him. Any defective package that may escape the inspector 

 at the shipping end, in this way may be traced directly back and the 

 responsibility fixed. 



Marketing. 



The production and marketing of fruit should be considered 

 from the same angle as any other business enterprise. No manu- 

 facturer of any size would expect the same person to take care of 

 both the production and selling end. Is not the growing of fruit a 

 manufacturing business? We have the raw material in the shape of 

 soil, fertilizers, water, etc. ; the tree is our manufacturing plant, 

 and the fruit is the finished product. Why should not this be handled 

 as any other business ? If we are to grow the finest quality of fruit, 

 and in this age of competition it is necessary that this be the grade 

 produced if we are to make any money from it, it is about all the 

 average man can do to attend to the growing, without also having 

 to be a salesman. Most fruit growers have not a sufficiently large 



