COST OF PRODUCING APPLES IN WENATCHEE VALLEY, WASH. 29 



All fruit is sorted : sometimes by the men as they pack, sometimes 

 by a person especially employed for this purpose. The sorters 

 usually sort the fruit from the loose boxes into three grades: Extra 

 Fancy, Fancy, and Choice. The culls are thrown into boxes close 

 at hand. In some instances the fruit is placed on canvas packing 

 tables and sorted in a similar manner. Some of the growers who har- 

 vest the largest crops use mechanical sizers, but when this investiga- 

 tion was made so few men had adopted this method of sizing that it 

 was impossible to obtain enough data to give reliable averages. 

 Both men and women are employed in sorting and packing. One 

 person will sort from 50 to 100 boxes per day. The sorters are paid 

 $0,225 to $0.25 per hour for labor. 









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Fig. 6.— Packing apples in the Wenatchee Valley. This type of packing shed is not uncommon on many 



of the smaller ranches. 



It is the usual practice to line all boxes with paper before packing. 

 All grades of apples are wrapped. As previously stated, the packer 

 may both sort and pack, or may merely pack sorted fruit. Over 64 

 per cent of the growers practice the former method. A man will sort 

 and pack 69 boxes in 10 hours, whereas a man who packs sorted fruit 

 will average 76 boxes in the same time. The former receives $0.07 

 per box, while the latter receives $0.06. Three loose boxes, as they 

 come from the orchard, usually pack out two boxes. The cost of 

 each operation or combination of operations in handling the fruit has 

 been distributed over all records, so that the resulting cost per box is 

 an average for all ranches. (See Table XXIII.) 



