GRADING AND PACKING 



It would be hard to over-emphasize the importance 

 of grading fruit for market. Grading is something 

 which can not be overdone. The more rigid the gra- 

 ding the better it pays. Careless and unthoughtful 

 fruit men often think that they can not afford to take 

 great pains in sorting, except they secure thereby an 

 extra select grade of fruit for which they can com- 

 mand a fancy price. Because apples were abundant 

 and low in price in 1896 many growers thought they 

 could not afford to sort them carefully ; but in every 

 case events proved that the man who most rigidly 

 graded his apples was the only one who made any- 

 thing from his sales. 



I have heard Mr. J. H. Hale give his experience in 

 handling muskmelons. He had some growing in his 

 Georgia peach orchards when they were a drug in the 

 northern markets ; yet by throwing away three-quar- 

 ters of the entire crop he was able to realize a hand- 

 some profit out of the other one-fourth, consisting only 

 of fancy melons. A shrewd student of mine who 

 earned his way through college made a part of his 

 money by strawberry growing. He sold his berries at 

 home in a little country village. When strawberries 

 were selling at twelve and a half cents a quart he 



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