PREPARING THE FRUITS FOR MARKET 35 
All fruit that has to be wrapped and packed in boxes 
needs to be graded much more carefully than fruit that 
is shipped loose in packages; as, for example, apples 
shipped in barrels, Most of the mechanical graders for 
apples have appeared in the Central or Western states, 
but within the past three or four years, some of them 
have been tried out in the East. Many are still in the 
experimental stage and while they are being used more 
and more every year, it is still a question whether they 
Fig. 24.—A GRADING MACHINE 
This machine weighs and tosses the fruit to separate compartments. 
are just the best thing to use. I am of the opinion, how- 
ever, that in a few years more they will be perfected 
to such an extent that all large growers of apples will 
use them. 
Irregular shaped fruit, like pears, or soft fruit, like 
peaches and plums, are seldom graded by mechanical 
means and it is not probable that such devices will ever 
be made successful. Fruit like strawberries or cherries 
which have long stems, do not lend themselves to me- 
chanical appliances, hence they will probably always 
have to be graded by hand. 
