66 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING 



three barrels of apples can be spread out on it at once. 

 Under no circumstances should it hold less than two 

 barrels. No man can make even grades with less 

 fruit before him, especially when there is much varia- 

 tion in the stock handled. For sorting grapes, 

 peaches, and plums a considerably smaller table will 

 do. If only one person is employed at this part of the 

 work, any small table may be used with a strip two to 

 four inches high running round to keep the fruit from 

 rolling off. If a large quantity of fruit is to be 

 handled, a long running table is demanded. This 

 may conveniently slope slightly toward the sorters. 

 The sorters may stand or be seated in a row at one 

 side of this running table, while the fruit and pack- 

 ages are delivered to them from the other side. 



The ingenuity of the manager must be chiefly 

 depended on to make a sorting table to suit the par- 

 ticular circumstances of any time and place ; but the 

 fact must not be overlooked that a good sorting table, 

 properly adapted to the work in hand, is one of the 

 most efficient helps to economical and successful fruit 

 handling. 



V. GOOD JUDGMENT IN GRADING 



The work of grading naturally requires good judg- 

 ment based on long experience. The man who grades 

 the fruit occupies the most responsible position in the 

 organization of the fruit farm, next to the manager 

 himself. On fruit plantations of moderate size the 

 manager often does the grading with his own hands. 

 For the sake of the supreme requirement — uniformity 

 — it is evidently desirable also that the work of grading 



