PREPARING THE FRUITS FOR MARKET 39 
The rapidity with which they work depends upon the 
size and the number of cups. The smaller machines, 
operated by one man, grade from 25 to 50 barrels a 
day. The larger machines run as high as 500 to 800 
barrels a day, requiring three men to operate them. Most 
of them have a power attachment, necessitating a small 
motor or gasoline engine to run them. One and a half 
horsepower is sufficient for most of them. The cost of 
the machines ranges from $50 for the small ones, to 
$275 for the larger ones, not including the power to 
operate them. So far as experience has gone, the great 
objection to the graders is that they do not sort out the 
bad or deformed specimens. This means that at the 
feeding hopper someone must pick out the bad fruit, 
or culls, as they are fed through, or the fruit must later be 
graded from the compartments. 
One particular brand of machine has a revolving brush 
in the hopper which is supposed to clean off any dust 
or dirt that may be on the fruit. This is always done 
with citrus fruit but is usually not required in grad- 
ing apples. On the whole, mechanical graders are 
worthy of considerable study, and probably in the near 
future will be so perfected as to become a standard part 
of the equipment of large commercial orchards. 
