The sorting table provides a practical means of removing defective fruit. The 

 cooling preserves on-the-tree quality. Distances between orchard and processor are 

 no longer critical— last year cherries in water were transported over 250 miles with 

 no loss in quality. This system eliminates the need for lugs and the troublesome 

 problems of lug storage, maintenance, and distribution. By reducing production 

 costs, it benefits grower, processor, and consumer. Several hundred tons of cherries 

 were handled this way last year. 



AERD has also perfected a water-flotation dumping unit for apples that was 

 used to empty over 400,000 bushels of apples last year. At least 12 units patterned 

 after the AERD unit are now in use. 



Machine To Pick Up Filled Lugs^ 



In 1961, AERD investigated the feasibility of a machine to pick up lugs and in 

 1962 the machine was built and tested. It mounts on a tractor. It has a lifting de- 

 vice, powered by a hydraulic motor, that exerts enough pressure against the sides 

 of filled lugs to raise them onto an elevating conveyor as the tractor moves between 

 rows. The conveyor, powered by the tractor's power takeoff, moves the lugs back 

 under the rear axle of the tractor and raises them to a holding platform above a 

 trailing wagon or trailer bed. A worker on the wagon or trailer bed removes the 

 filled lugs without stooping and stacks them. 



The pickup device can be adjusted to accommodate almost any size or shape 

 of box so the machine can be used on many crops. The machine also appears to 

 be especially advantageous in small orchards or fields where it might permit a 

 family to harvest its fruit or other crops without employing outside help. It should 

 cost less than forklift equipment. Commercial models are not yet available. 



HARVESTING AND HANDLING SPECIFIC CROPS 



The fact that shakers and catching frames are practical and commercially ac- 

 ceptable for mechanically harvesting certain tree fruits and berries is encouraging. 

 It has prompted AERD to experiment further with this system and to explore 

 other harvesting methods as well. 



Sour Cherries 



Domestic production of our sour cherries approaches 130,000 tons yearly, the 

 "farm value" being about $20 million. It formerly required 45,000 workers to har- 

 vest Michigan's crop alone — 35,000 of which were nonlocal and had to be recruited 

 in other States or from foreign countries. New York, Wisconsin, Oregon, and other 

 States faced similar problems. 



Today, under conditions existing in most orchards, 6 men and suitably designed 

 tree shakers and catching frames can harvest as many sour cherries as 33 hand- 

 pickers. During 1962, about 2 million pounds of sour cherries were harvested 

 mechanically at a cost of approximately 1/2 cent per pound against 3 cents per pound 

 usually paid handpickers. 



' See ARS 42-83, "Machine For Picking Up Filled Grape Boxes," available from the Agri- 

 cultural Engineering Research Division, ARS, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Plant Industrv Sta- 

 tion, Beltsville, Md. 20705 



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